Muscle in Motion: Integrating Mechanisms, Models and Functions

Muscle tissue, skeletal, cardiac, e smooth, underlies nearly every aspect of how organisms move, breathe, circulate blood, and maintain metabolic balance. Yet despite decades of investigation, we still lack a fully integrated picture of how muscle function emerges across scales, from the molecular machinery of contraction to the mechanics of whole organs and systems. This Research Topic sets out to bring together current thinking on the mechanisms, models, and functional consequences that define muscle biology today, creating space for dialogue between researchers who study different muscle types and who approach the field from quite different angles, whether molecular, physiological, computational, or clinical.At the core of this collection are the molecular and cellular events that make contraction possible: the biophysics and biochemistry of the contractile apparatus, the assembly and turnover of the sarcomere, the coupling between electrical excitation and calcium handling, and the cytoskeletal and membrane proteins that transmit force within and between cells. Closely tied to these mechanisms is the question of how muscle senses and responds to mechanical cues, stretch, load, substrate stiffness, and how these signals are converted into lasting changes in gene expression, metabolism, or tissue architecture. We are equally interested in the cellular biology of muscle maintenance and repair, including the role of satellite cells and other stem cell populations in myogenesis, and the processes that drive hypertrophy, atrophy, and fibrosis in response to injury, disuse, or chronic disease.Aging and disease offer a particularly important lens on these mechanisms, and we welcome work exploring sarcopenia, muscular dystrophies, cardiomyopathies, and metabolic myopathies through animal models, patient-derived cells, organoids, or engineered tissue systems. Alongside this biological focus, we hope to showcase the methodological advances, in imaging, omics, biomechanical measurement, and computational or mathematical modeling, that are making it possible to connect molecular events to tissue- and organ-level behavior in ways that weren't feasible even a few years ago. Finally, we want to give room to work that treats muscle not in isolation but as part of an integrated physiological system, examining its crosstalk with bone, adipose tissue, and the nervous system, and its broader role in exercise adaptation and metabolic health.We welcome original research, reviews, and perspective articles, and we are especially keen to receive contributions that cross traditional disciplinary lines, linking molecular detail to organismal function, or pairing experimental data with computational modeling. Taken together, we hope this Research Topic will offer a timely, wide-angle view of muscle biology that speaks to researchers, clinicians, and trainees alike. Topic editors: Cesare Gargioli, Clara De Palma, Emanuele Mocciaro Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86337/muscle-in-motion-integrating-mechanisms-models-and-functions