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Guest editorial

Ying-Shing Chan, Wing-Ho Yung

Department of Physiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China； School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China

Abstract

It is with our immense pleasure that we put together this special issue on Physiological Research in Hong Kong. Physiology, the study of functions in living systems, has always been a central theme in life science. Although the boundaries between physiology and other bioscience disciplines have become vague in past decades, understanding how organisms, organs, cells and molecules function is a common and fundamental goal for all physiologists and other life scientists.
This special issue includes 11 articles that address important and intriguing questions of receptor and cell biology in the respiratory system, the nervous system and the cardiovascular system, many of which impact on human diseases. Yu and colleagues discuss the role of transport protein particle (TRAPP) complex in the highly regulated process of vesicle-mediated transport of proteins inside cells. Yao and colleagues highlight recent progress in understanding TRPM2 (a member of transient receptor potential channel family) as a cellular sensor of oxidative stress. On the respiratory system, Hao and Ko discuss the roles of P2Y receptors in airway epithelium with respect to ion transport and immune function, while Lung reports her findings on the mechanism of how sulphur dioxide causes nasal congestion in the swine model. In addition, the article by Fung, Tipoe and Leung summarizes the cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate augmented chemoreceptor activity commonly found in subjects suffering from sleep-disordered breathing. On the nervous system, Chan and co-workers review the developmental refinement of neural circuits for the detection of head orientation in the three-dimensional space. Ke and colleagues focus on the neurodegenerative process that causes various brain disorders, summarizing recent advances based on the Drosophila model. Shum and co-workers provide a comprehensive review on the applications of patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells in neurological disease-modeling and drug screening. Finally, three articles give special attention to the physiology of the cardiovascular system. Huang and colleagues highlight the beneficial effects of vitamin D on the cardiovascular system and elucidate novel underlying mechanisms. Li and co-workers report their latest findings on the role of transient outward K+ current with inward rectification (Itoir) in determining membrane excitability of atrial and ventricular myocytes, while Ballard provides a focused update on the roles of ATP and adenosine in the regulation of vascular supply to muscles.
We hope that this special issue could provide a glimpse of physiological research carried out in Hong Kong. We wish to take this opportunity to thank the editors of Acta Physiologica Sinica for the invitation of this special issue and the support that they provided.

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 陈应城,容永豪　　E-mail: ,

Citing This Article：

Ying-Shing Chan, Wing-Ho Yung. Guest editorial. Acta Physiol Sin 2014; 66 (1): 0 (in Chinese with English abstract).