Structure and Function in Excitable Cells -

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Résumé :
This book is a collection of up-to-date research reviews dealing with various aspects of the structure and function of excitable cells. Its overall objective is to further the search for a better understanding of the mechanism of excitation on a structural and physicochemical basis. The chapters are written by active investigators from a variety of disciplines, repre? senting many different points of view. Their complementary fields of expertise give this book the rare feature of extraordinary breadth. Excitability is a fundamental property of many biological systems. The mechanisms by which nerve impulses are initiated and propagated, and by which rhythmical activities are produced in nerve, muscle, and cardiac cells, can be fully elucidated only when the process of excitation is derived from fundamental principles applied to known structural forms, at both the macroscopic and the molecular level. The problems of excitation are complex, requiring knowledge of many aspects of cells, including their morphology, elec? trobiology, chemical physics, and biochemistry.

Sommaire:
I. Fine Structure in Excitable Cells.- 1 ? Differentiation of Axonal Membrane Systems, the Axolemma, and the Axoplasmic Matrix.- 2 ? Structure of the Node of Ranvier.- 3 ? The Axolemma-Ectoplasm Complex of Squid Giant Axon.- 4 ? The Neuroplasmic Lattice: Structural Characteristics in Vertebrate and Invertebrate Axons.- 5 ? Membrane Specialization and Cytoskeletal Structures in the Synapse and Axon Revealed by the Quick-Freeze, Deep-Etch Method.- II. Cellular Excitation: Recent Findings and Models.- 6 ? An Introduction to Membrane Conductances.- 7 ? Single-Channel Currents and the Kinetics of Agonist-Induced Gating.- 8 ? Effects of Voltage-Dependent Ion-Conduction Processes on the Complex Admittance of Single Skeletal Muscle Fibers.- 9 ? Noise, Impedance and Single-Channel Currents.- 10 ? Membrane Ionic Currents, Current Noise and Admittance in Isolated Cockroach Axons.- 11 ? Ion-Selectivity and Gating Properties of the Current Conduction Pathways in Squid Axon: The View of a Membrane-Cortex Model.- 12 ? Stochastic Modeling of the Aggregation-Gating Site.- 13 ? Effect of Scorpion Toxins on Sodium Channels.- 14 ? Modification of Voltage-Sensitive Sodium Channels by Batrachotoxin.- III. Electrochemistry and Electrophysics.- 15 ? Axolemma-Ectoplasm Complex and Mechanical Responses of the Axon Membrane.- 16 ? History of the Physical Chemistry of Charged Membranes.- 17 ? Flux Coupling and Nonlinear Membrane Phenomena.- 18 ? Solvent Substitution as a Probe of Gating Processes in Voltage-Dependent Ion Channels.- 19 ? The Molecular Mechanisms of Cellular Potentials.- 20 ? Electrical Behavior of Single-Filing Channels.- 21 ? The Nonlinear Kinetics of an Electrodiffusion Membrane.- 22 ? The Effects of Surface Compartments on Ion Transport across Membranes.- IV. Proteins in Excitation.- 23 ? Reconstitution of Nerve Membrane Sodium Channels: Channel Proteins.- 24 ? Tyrosinated Tubulin Necessary for Maintenance of Membrane Excitability in Squid Giant Axon.