Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Volume 135

This special volume provides up-to-date information on research dealing with the regulation of the biosynthesis and degradation of cyclic GMP and with the regulation of physiological systems by cyclic GMP. The publication of this volume could not have come at a more appropriate time, with significant work in this area having led to our current understanding of the role of nitric oxide in signal transduction, and the 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for Furchgott, Murad and Ignarro. Moreover, the introduction in early 1998 of sildenafil (Viagra), a selective inhibitor of a cyclic GMP phosphodiesterase, for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in men represents the first successful therapeutic application of an agent designed to alter the activity of a molecular target in a cyclic GMP pathway. Mechanisms of regulation and functions of guanylyl cyclases....Pages 1-39 Soluble guanylyl cyclase: Structure and regulation....Pages 41-65 Cyclic GMP as substrate and regulator of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs)....Pages 67-104 Structure and function of cGMP-dependent protein kinases....Pages 105-149 Structure and function of cyclic nucleotide-gated channels....Pages 151-171 Signal transduction by cGMP-dependent protein kinases and their emerging roles in the regulation of cell adhesion and gene expression....Pages 173-209