Computer simulation of the excitable membranes

Studies of Excitable Membranes

The neuromuscular junctions and nonjunctional sarcolemmas of mammalian skeletal muscle fibers were studied by conventional thin-section electron microscopy and freeze-fracture techniques. A modified acetylcholinesterase staining procedure that is compatible with light microscopy, conventional thin-section electron microscopy, and freeze-fracture techniques is described. Freeze-fracture replicas...

Proteins of Excitable Membranes

Excitable membranes have the special ability of changing rapidly and reversibly their permeability to ions, thereby controlling the ion movements that carry the electric currents propagating nerve impulses. Acetylcholine (ACh) is the specific signal which is released by excitation and is recognized by a specific protein, the ACh-receptor; it induces a conformational change, triggering off a seq...

Kinetics of Excitable Membranes

An understanding of the properties of excitable membranes requires the calculation of ion flow through the membrane, including the effects of nonuniformity in the transverse membrane properties (mobilities, fixed charge, electric field). Permeability is apparently controlled at the external interface. Two factors may be involved here: the statistical blocking of pores by divalent cations, and a...

Proteins in excitable membranes.

Computer simulation studies of model biological membranes.

This Account is focused on computer simulation studies of model biological membrane systems with potential applications in biomedical research. In the past decade, classical molecular dynamics has provided novel insights into the properties of model biomembrane systems, including the nature of the DNA-lipid interactions, the effect of pore-forming transmembrane peptides on the lipid environment...