1. The equilibrium relationship between acetylcholine (ACh) concentration and response (fraction of channels open), corrected for the effects of desensitization, has been estimated by single-ion-channel recording at the adult frog skeletal neuromuscular junction. At high ACh concentration channel openings occur in well-defined clusters separated by long desensitized intervals. The response, po,...

The slow-channel congenital myasthenic syndrome (SCS) is an inherited neurodegenerative disease that caused mutations in the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) affecting neuromuscular transmission. Leaky AChRs lead to Ca(2+) overload and degeneration of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) attributed to activation of cysteine proteases and apoptotic changes of synaptic nuclei. Here we use transgenic mou...

In this paper, we got femtoliter volume droplet by splitting of nanoliter droplet at a T-junction channel, and the volume of the daughter droplet was not limited by the channel size. We use this droplet splitting system to entrap several fluorescent nanospheres, which show great potential to manipulate and observe single nanoparticles independently. The influences of fluid flow rate, channel ge...

The IP3R calcium release channel has been simulated using a stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA;Gillespie algorithm) and De young-Keiser model. A set of different concentration for Cat' and IP3 havebeen used. Considering the Number of molecules in each state, a non linear behavior of the system can beseen clearly. The inhibiting role of the Ca+2 on the open state (X110) has been studied. The d...

It was thought previously that cardiac muscle gap junctions provide low-resistance connections between cells and permit the local-circuit current to flow. Some evidences show that myocardial cells may not require low-resistance connections for successful propagation of the action potential (AP). It seems that some other types of mechanisms must be involved in AP propagation. In this article, we...

Synaptic vesicles were isolated from the nerve terminals of Torpedo electric organ. After fusion, 'giant' vesicles were formed which could be examined by the patch clamp technique. One of the cationic channels, the P channel, shows a small preference for K+ compared to Na+ and has multiple conductance levels. Its rate of opening is voltage and calcium dependent. Fractal analysis of the P channe...