Phase Transitions in Cell Biology

• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Other Authors: Pollack, Gerald H. (Editor), Chin, Wei-Chun (Editor)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands, 2008.
• Subjects: Medicine.; Biochemistry.; Cell biology.; Biophysics.; Biological physics.; Biomedicine.; Biomedicine general.; Biochemistry, general.; Biophysics and Biological Physics.; Cell Biology.

Phase transitions occur throughout nature. The most familiar example is the one that occurs in water – the abrupt, discontinuous transition from a liquid to a gas or a solid, induced by a subtle environmental change. Practically magical, the ever-so-slight shift of temperature or pressure can induce...

Table of Contents:

• On the Reversible Abrupt Structural Changes in Nerve Fibers Underlying Their Excitation and Conduction Processes
• Nonequilibrium Phase Transition in Scattered Cell Communities Coupled by Auto/Paracrine-Like Signalling
• Interfacial Water Compartments on Tendon/Collagen and in Cells
• The Role of Ion-Exchange on Trypsin Premature Activation in Zymogen Granules
• Whole-Cell Phase Transition in Neurons and its Possible Role in Apoptotic Cell Death
• Puzzles of Cell and Animal Physiology in View of the Chain-Ordering Transition in Lipid Membrane
• Ephemeral Gels: The Biological Example Applied to a New Type of Polymers
• The Cytoskeleton of the Living Cell as an Out-of-Equilibrium System
• Unexpected Linkage Between Unstirred Layers, Exclusion Zones, and Water
• “Autothixotropy” of Water – An Unknown Physical Phenomenon, and its Possible Importance for the Cytoskeleton
• Propagation of Volume Phase Transitions as a Possible Mechanism for Movement in Biological Systems
• Cell Plasma Membranes and Phase Transitions.