Membrane Processes: Molecular Biology and Medical Applications

ISBN-13: 9781461382768 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 262 str.

G. Benga; H. Baum; F. a. Kummerow

Opis

The burgeoning interest in biomembranes in recent years has been such that "membranology" is now virtuMtyasubject in its own right, cutting vertically, as it were, through the strata of conventional disciplines from mathematics and physics, through chemistry, to biology. The very scope of the topic is thus so daunting that it is tempting to treat it only at one stratum of this hierarchy, be it the biophysics of phospholipid bilayers or the biochemistry of interactions at the cell surface. Such an approach is entirely valid, particularly among specialists with common interests. However, this approach does present a distorted perspective to the newcomer to the field, and, more significantly, it fails to stimulate cross fertil ization of ideas among workers at the various disciplinary levels. For example, as in all areas of molecular biology, the clinicians are frequently unaware of the contributions to their problems that might be made by the application of more basic knowledge and techniques. Conversely, biochemists or biophysicists may be ignorant of the existing practical problems to which they might address their expertise."

Spis treści

I Structural and Functional Relationships in Cell Membranes.- 1 Reconstituted Membrane Systems.- 2 Molecular Aspects of Membrane Fusion.- 3 Microheterogeneity in Biological Membranes.- 4 Molecular Composition and Functional Properties of Human Liver Mitochondria.- 5 Some Problems Concerning the Role of Water and Protons in the Function of Biological Membranes.- II Factors Affecting Membrane Permeability.- 6 Proton Flux Across Model and Biological Membranes.- 7 Water Diffusion Through Erythrocyte Membranes in Normal and Pathological Subjects: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.- 8 Virally Mediated Changes in Cellular Permeability.- 9 Transmembrane Calcium Fluxes and Cell Death.- III Physiological Changes Affecting Membrane Properties.- 10 Oxidative Damage in Exercising Muscle and Mitochondria.- 11 Early Events in Stimulus-Response Coupling Using Neutrophils as a Model System.- 12 Pathological Sequelae of Irritant-Induced Phagocytosis Exemplified by Pulmonary Emphysema.- 13 Regulation of Erythropoiesis and Possible Implications of the Cell Membrane.