Abstract
The electrical signals in biological cells are generated in micro-reaction spaces of the cell membranes. The bioelectric signals and other bioelectric potential changes of nerve and muscle cells are caused by cross-membrane ion flows; and the most extensively studied ion flow gating system is the acetylcholine system. Basic features of elemental bioelectric signals are shown to be understandable in terms of recent relaxation kinetic data on isolated acetylcholine receptor and acetylcholinesterase. The conclusions from electrophysiological and physical chemical investigations can be summarized in a flow scheme for an essentially sequential processing of acetylcholine by receptor and esterase. The data of the acetylcholine system reveal striking similarities to basic features of the Na+ ion gating system of axonal membranes of nerve and muscle cells. For example, the conducting conformation of both the acetylcholine receptor-channel and the Na+-channel are of transient nature, they are intrinsically metastable compared to the thermodynamically stable inactivated (desensitized) states.
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Neumann, E. (1981). Microchemical Reactions in Nerve Impulse Transmission. In: Malissa, H., Grasserbauer, M., Belcher, R. (eds) Nature, Aim and Methods of Microchemistry. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-8630-5_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-8630-5_5
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