Main description:

Voltage-sensitive ion channels are macromolecules embedded in the membranes of nerve and muscle fibers of animals. Despite decades of intensive research under the traditional approach of gated structural pores, the relation between the structure of these molecules and their function remains enigmatic. This book examines physically oriented approaches not covered in other ion-channel books, and it develops a new physics-based approach to the problem of molecular excitability.

Contents:

PREFACE; 1. EXPLORING EXCITABILITY; 2. INFORMATION IN THE LIVING BODY, 3. ANIMAL ELECTRICITY; 4. ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY OF THE AXON; 5. ASPECTS OF CONDENSED MATTER; 6. IONS IN THE ELECTRIC FIELD; 7. IONS DRIFT AND DIFFUSE; 8. MULTI-ION AND TRANSIENT; 9. MODELS OF MEMBRANE EXCITABILITY; 10. ADMITTANCE TO THE SEMICIRCLE; 11. WHAT'S THAT NOISE? 12. ION CHANNELS, PROTEINS AND TRANSITIONS; 13. DIVERSITY AND STRUCTURES OF ION CHANNELS; 14. MICROSCOPIC MODELS OF CHANNEL FUNCTION; 15. ORDER FROM DISORDER; 16. POLAR PHASES; 17. DELICATE PHASES AND THEIR TRANSITIONS; 18. PROPAGATION AND PERCOLATION IN A CHANNEL; 19. SCREWS AND HELICES; 20. VOLTAGE-INDUCED GATING OF ION CHANNELS; 21. BRANCHING OUT; INDEX.