Description

Regulation of Organ and Tissue Growth investigates the mechanisms underlying the regulation of organ and tissue growth. Theories of growth regulation are discussed, along with growth and renewal; factors that influence prenatal brain development; regulation of metabolic and functional properties of muscle; and the role of tension in muscle growth. Heart growth and size in homeotherms are also examined.

Comprised of 18 chapters, this book begins with an introduction to two schools of thought that explain the orderly growth of organs and tissues: one contends that the dimensions of body parts are genetically predetermined, while the other holds that the correct size of an organ is a function of the physiological demands impinging on it. Subsequent chapters deal with the regulation of metabolic and functional properties of muscle; the role of tension in muscle growth; the regulation of skeletal growth; the role of erythropoietin in erythropoiesis; and humoral factors in the stimulation and inhibition of lymphopoiesis. The text also considers the postnatal development of the mammalian lung before concluding with a chapter that describes the regulation of ovarian growth by the pineal gland.

This monograph will be of interest to students, practitioners, and researchers in biology and physiology.