Masataka Kawai

Masataka Kawai received the B.S. degree in science, University of Tokyo, Japan, and the Ph.D. degree in biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. He received the Postdoctorate in muscle biology, Columbia University, New York City, USA. He is a Professor of anatomy and cell biology, University of Iowa, Iowa, USA. His research interest is cross-bridge mechanisms of contraction in skeletal and cardiac muscles. His current research is in structure-function relationship of molecular domains in thin-filament proteins by using thin-filament removal and reconstitution technique using genetically altered proteins. His other areas of specialty are electronics, computers, physics, and mathematics. His recent reviews are “What do we learn by studying the temperature effect on isometric tension and tension transients in mammalian striated muscle fibres?” Journal of muscle research and cell motility Motil (24: 127-138/2003); “Use of thin filament reconstituted muscle fibres to probe the mechanism of force generation,” with S. Ishiwata, Journal of muscle research and cell motility (27: 455-468/2006); and “Force transients and minimum cross-bridge models in muscular contraction,” with Halvorson HR, Journal of muscle research and cell motility (in press).

Biography Updated on 14 January 2008

Personal Home Page

http://www.anatomy.uiowa.edu/pages/directory/faculty/kawai.html

Articles in Scholarly Journals [Incomplete List]

  1. Temperature-Dependence of Isometric Tension and Cross-Bridge Kinetics of Cardiac Muscle Fibers Reconstituted with a Tropomyosin Internal Deletion Mutant
    Biophysical Journal, vol. 91, no. 11, pp. 4230–4240, 2006
  2. Temperature change does not affect force between regulated actin filaments and heavy meromyosin in single-molecule experiments
    The Journal of Physiology, vol. 574, no. 3, pp. 877–887, 2006
  3. Use of thin filament reconstituted muscle fibres to probe the mechanism of force generation
    Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility, vol. 27, no. 5-7, pp. 455–468, 2006
  4. Role of the N-terminal negative charges of actin in force generation and cross-bridge kinetics in reconstituted bovine cardiac muscle fibres
    The Journal of Physiology, vol. 564, no. 1, pp. 65–82, 2005
  5. Elementary Steps of the Cross-Bridge Cycle in Fast-Twitch Fiber Types from Rabbit Skeletal Muscles
    Biophysical Journal, vol. 89, no. 5, pp. 3248–3260, 2005
  6. The effect of tropomyosin on force and elementary steps of the cross-bridge cycle in reconstituted bovine myocardium
    The Journal of Physiology, vol. 556, no. 2, pp. 637–649, 2004
  7. Effects of tropomyosin internal deletion Delta23Tm on isometric tension and the cross-bridge kinetics in bovine myocardium
    The Journal of Physiology, vol. 553, no. 2, pp. 457–471, 2003
  8. Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility, vol. 24, no. 2/3, pp. 127–138, 2003
  9. Temperature effect on isometric tension is mediated by regulatory proteins tropomyosin and troponin in bovine myocardium
    The Journal of Physiology, vol. 539, no. 1, pp. 267–276, 2002
  10. The length of cooperative units on the thin filament in rabbit psoas muscle fibres
    Experimental Physiology, vol. 87, no. 6, pp. 691–697, 2002
  11. Effect of temperature on elementary steps of the cross-bridge cycle in rabbit soleus slow-twitch muscle fibres
    The Journal of Physiology, vol. 531, no. 1, pp. 219–234, 2001
  12. The effect of inorganic phosphate on the ATP hydrolysis rate and the tension transients in chemically skinned rabbit psoas fibers
    Pfl�gers Archiv European Journal of Physiology, vol. 408, no. 1, pp. 1–9, 1987
  13. The role of orthophosphate in crossbridge kinetics in chemically skinned rabbit psoas fibres as detected with sinusoidal and step length alterations
    Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 421–434, 1986
  14. Crossbridge kinetics in chemically skinned rabbit psoas fibres when th actin-myosin lattice spacing is altered by dextran T-500
    Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 313–332, 1985
  15. Effect of cross-bridge kinetics on apparent Ca2+ sensitivity
    The Journal of General Physiology, vol. 79, no. 6, pp. 997–1016, 1982
  16. Alternate energy transduction routes in chemically skinned rabbit psoas muscle fibres: a further study of the effect of MgATP over a wide concentration range
    Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 203–214, 1981
  17. Sinusoidal analysis: a high resolution method for correlating biochemical reactions with physiological processes in activated skeletal muscles of rabbit, frog and crayfish
    Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 279–303, 1980
  18. Can the Binding of Ca2+ to Two Regulatory Sites on Troponin C Determine the Steep pCa/Tension Relationship of Skeletal Muscle?
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 77, no. 8, pp. 4717–4720, 1980
  19. Voltage fluctuations at the frog sartorius motor endplate produced by a covalently attached activator
    The Journal of Membrane Biology, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 145–159, 1979
  20. Effect of MgATP on Stiffness Measured at Two Frequencies in Ca2+-activated Muscle Fibers
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 74, no. 9, pp. 4073–4075, 1977
  21. Two rigor states in skinned crayfish single muscle fibers
    The Journal of General Physiology, vol. 68, no. 3, pp. 267–280, 1976