The acetylcholine nicotinic receptor is an ionic channel whose aperture is directly controlled by acetylcholine. It is a key molecule in the chemical communication between nerve cells and between nerve cell and muscle. The structure and function of muscular nicotinic receptors have been unraveled in recent years and its beauty and mysteries were reviewed in the Santorini NATO ARW organized by Dr. Maelicke in 1986. The neat, linear structure of this molecule and its conservation throughout evolution, from bacteria to humans, have led to the suggestion that it has reached the optimal structure...

Membrane proteins, lipids and their glycosylated derivatives are discussed both with respect to their biosynthesis as well as regarding their mutual interaction and assembly into functional membranes. Topics cover a large variety of systems and cells: investigation on virus membranes as well as pro- and eukaryotic cells are included.

Helper T cells activate a set of lymphokine genes upon recognition of antigens presented in the context of the major histocompatibility complex on antigen presenting cells (Arai et al., 1986; Miyajima et al., 1988). Activation of T cells proceeds in two distinct stages. The flrst step is triggered by binding of an antigen to the T cell antigen receptor/CD3 complex that leads to the activation of protein kinase C (PKC) and an increase in intracellular Ca2+. This step, which is substituted by phorbol ester and calcium ionophore (Weiss et al., 1984), possibly proceeds through GTP binding protein...

A NATO Advanced study Institute on "Receptors, Membrane Trans port and Signal Transduction," was held on the Island of Spet sai, Greece, from August 16-27, 1988, in order to consider re cent developments in membrane receptor research, membrane trans port and signal transduction mechanisms. These topics were put in the larger context of current knowledge on the structure and function of membranes; connections between different fields of research were established by in-depth dis cussions of energy transduction and transport mechanisms. The general principles of regulation by signal transduction...

The Fourth International Workshop on "In Vitro Effects of Mineral Dusts on Cells" was held on September 20 - 23, 1988 in Auberge Estrimont, Orford, Quebec, Canada. The emphasis of the N. A. T. O. Advanced Research Workshop was the use of cell and organ culture and lavage cell populations obtained from man and laboratory animals to elucidate cellular and molecular events occur ring after their interaction with fibrous and nonfibrous particulates, including metal compounds. In seven sessions, an international representation of scientists from 17 countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, France,...

In July 1989 a symposium was held at the Physiology Department of the Georg August University, G6ttingen, on the physiological, biophysical, biochemical, and technical principles of the coding of chemical substances both in nervous systems and artificial devices. This book is the collection of the papers presented at that meeting. Biological and artificial systems for odor coding both have in common that the stimulus selectivity of the receptor cells (sensors) is usually very poor, and the mechanisms which determine selectivity and sensitivity are largely unknown. However, a poor selectivity...

Internati. onal meetings dev. oted exclusively t. o phytochr. ome are relatively infrequent. The Advanced Research W. orksh. op . on Phyt. ochr. ome Properties and Bi. ol. ogical Acti. on held in July 1990 at Bish. op Otter C. ollege in Chichester, an . old English cathedral t. own situated between the s. outh d. owns and the sea, provided a rare . opportunity fur th. ose w. orking directly . on the mechanism . of phyt. ochr. ome acti. on t. o get t. ogether fur a focused and intensive peri. od . of discussi. on . on the subject. The number . of delegates was limited t. o fifty but c....

Autoimmune diseases are common and often associated with considerable morbidity or - in diseases such as IDDM, myasthenia gravis and multiple sclerosis - mortality. In this volume, experts of international stature in basic science and clinical medicine with a common interest in understanding the normal and aberrant immune response present their experiences. It was their intention to fur- ther the understanding of potential clinical application of scientific observations and to help to comprehend the huge amount of results in autoimmunity research.

Providing a survey on current research in eukaryotic signal transduction, some of the topics covered are, the biochemistry and biophysics of cell surface receptors, G-protein mediated signalling pathways, regulation of cyclic AMP, Ca2+, inositol phosphate pathways, the structure and regulation of receptors which are tyrosine protein kinases, and cellular responses to integrated signals.

The last ten years have witnessed a remarkable increase in our awareness of the importance of events subsequent to transcriptional initiation in terms of the regulation and control of gene expression. In particular, the development of recombinant DNA techniques that began in the 1970s provided powerful new tools with which to study the molecular basis of control and regulation at all levels. The resulting investigations revealed a diversity of post-transcriptional mechanisms in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Scientists working on translation, mRNA stability, transcriptional...