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K-State Today

January 12, 2016

College of Veterinary Medicine's Schultz writes lead chapter of new book on function of epithelial cells

Submitted by Joe Montgomery

Bruce Schultz

The tiniest things have the potential to make a big difference in human and animal health. For Bruce Schultz, K-State physiology professor, it starts with how proteins transport chloride through body cells.

Because of his expertise, Schultz was selected to write the first chapter in the new book "Ion Channels and Transporters of Epithelia in Health and Disease." The book compiles a wealth of detailed information from multiple authors at research universities and institutions around the world who are all recognized as experts.

"This book is essentially a who's who of epithelial physiology and transport, bringing together both the historical background and current research on cell function," said Schultz, who is also the interim head of the anatomy and physiology department in the College of Veterinary Medicine. "My chapter looked at the growth in understanding of chloride transport, and sets the context for understanding diseases such as cystic fibrosis; high blood pressure, or hypertension; diarrhea; bone health; and muscle function."

Schultz said that most of the other 28 chapters in the book focus on distinct molecular components and go into greater detail on their functions in the contexts of different cells and tissues.

"This book is intended for use by graduate students who seek to understand the physiology of salt and water movement across cell layers," Schultz said. "While my chapter looks at history of our understanding, through it I was able to reference some of my own work on the pharmacology of the cystic fibrosis protein, and recent work done by a close collaborator here in the department, Dr. Fernando Pierucci-Alves. This takes it back to the work of Charles Darwin and brings it all the way forward to listing a current publication out of our lab."

The book was published by the Springer publishing company through an agreement with the American Physiology Society in its series on Physiology in Health and Disease.