Biomembranes : Passive Permeability of Cell Membranes

Molecular transport of substances in the presence or absence of membranes is an ubiquitous phenomenon. Research workers from various disciplines in the biological and phys ical sciences are actively pursuing problems of transport. One of the important questions arising in numerous biological transport situations concerns the differentiation between passive and active transport. The latter is a more complex phenomenon involving metabolic processes, and the economy of thinking requires that attempts to explain any transport pro cess from passive mechanisms should be carried as far as pos sible before invoking more complex mechanisms. A precise de finition and circumscription of passive transport processes is of crucial importance. The symposium on "Passive permea bility of cell membranes" was therefore devoted to these pas sive transport processes and this book presents the proceed ings of the conference. This symposium, a satellite symposium of the XXV Inter national Congress of Physiological Sciences at Munich, Ger many, on July 25-31, 1971, was organized by the Department of Physiology, University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Nether lands. It was held at the Hilton Hotel in Rotterdam on July 20-22, 1971. The meeting was made possible by generous fi nancial support from the Dutch Ministry of Education and Science (Ministerie van Onderwijs en Wetenschappenl and from Boehringer Mannheim N. V. , Ciba N. V. , Essex (Nederland) N. V. , Gist-Brocades N. V. , Hoffmann - La Roche N. V. , Merck, Sharp and Dohme Nederland N. V. , N. V. Philips, and Unilever N.

Contenu
Diffusion. Basic Phenomena and Mechanism.- Diffusion, Chemical Reaction and Facilitated Diffusion.- Asymmetry in Biological Permeability Barriers with Carrier Transport.- Carrier Diffusion.- Aspects of Competitive Inhibition.- A New Kinetic Analysis of the Leucine Transport Carrier in Erythrocytes.- An Alternative to the Carrier Model for Sugar Transport across Red Cell Membranes.- Single-File Diffusion.- Carrier Mediated Diffusion across Thin Membranes (Abstract).- Lipids of the Cell Plasma Membrane.- The Isolation of Erythrocyte Membrane Proteins in Aqueous Media.- Lipid Binding of Membrane Proteins.- Phase Transitions in Lipids.- Immunological Aspects of Cation Transport in Sheep Red Cells.- The L Antibody and Potassium Fluxes in LK Red Cells of Sheep and Goats.- Fluorescent Probes in Membrane Studies.- Motion of Spin Labeled Fatty Acids in Membrane Structures.- Recent Studies Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Lipids and Biological Membranes.- Electrical Noise from Synthetic Membranes.- Properties of Water in Red Cell and Synthetic Membranes.- Properties of Water Channels in Human Red Cells.- The Modification of Water Structure by Divalent Cations as a Mechanism of Membrane Permeability Control.- Surface Coating and Transport.- Membrane Lipid Pattern and Non-Electrolytes Permeability in Salmo Trutta L. Red Blood Cells.- Mechanisms of Anion Permeation A review of available data, principally on muscle cells, with the fixed charge concept in mind.- Passive Anion Transfer across the Red Cell Membrane and its Alteration by Amphiphilic Compounds.- Chemical Modification of Proteins Involved in the Permeability of the Erythrocyte Membrane to Ions.- Modified Erythrocyte Cation Permeability.- Conductance Mechanisms in Excitable Cells.- Simulation of Membrane Properties.- Membrane Noise and Ion Transport in the Node of Ranvier.- Delayed Voltage Responses to Fast Changes of (Na)o at the Outer Surface of Frog Skin Epithelium.- Allostery and Permeability of Postsynaptic Membranes.