Characterization Of Biological Membranes

The study of membranes has become of high importance in the fields of biology, pharmaceutical chemistry and medicine, since much of what happens in a cell or in a virus involves biological membranes. The current book is an excellent introduction to the area, which explains how modern analytical methods can be applied to study biological membranes and membrane proteins and the bioprocesses they are involved to.

Membrane Characterization provides a valuable source of information on how membranes are characterized, an extremely limited field that is confined to only brief descriptions in various technical papers available online. For the first time, readers will be able to understand the importance of membrane characterization, the techniques required, and the fundamental theory behind them. This book focuses on characterization techniques that are normally used for membranes prepared from polymeric, ceramic, and composite materials. Features specific details on many membrane characterization techniques for various membrane materials of industrial and academic interest Contains examples of international best practice techniques for the evaluation of several membrane parameters, including pore size, charge, and fouling Discusses various membrane models more suitable to a specific application Provides examples of ab initio calculations for the design, optimization, and scale-up of processes based on characterization data

Progress is reported on studies of cell membrane permeability of human erythrocytes and Escherichia coli cells. Measuring methods are described. (CH).

The goal of these two volumes is to help fill the gap between theory and experiment in membrane science. This is the only work available today which covers the domain of computer-aided conformational analyses of membranes. Written in a detailed, yet comprehensive manner, this book uses the semi-empirical approach as a way to give a molecular description of the membrane structure in organized systems. This interesting work establishes the validity and quality of the prediction by making a permanent comparison with the experimental data. This reference aims to use this comparison to open a new avenue in the molecular description of the biological membrane. Those involved with biochemistry, biophysics, pharmacology, and biology will find these volumes interesting and informative.

The interface between a living cell and the surrounding world plays a critical role in numerous complex biological processes. Sperm/egg fusion, virus/cell fusion, exocytosis, endocytosis, and ion permeation are a few examples of processes involving membranes. In recent years, powerful tools such as X-ray crystal lography, electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and infra-red and Raman spectroscopy have been developed to characterize the structure and dy namics of biomembranes. Despite this progress, many of the factors responsible for the function of biomembranes are still not well understood. The membrane is a very complicated supramolecular liquid-crystalline structure that is largely composed of lipids, forming a bilayer, to which proteins and other biomolecules are anchored. Often, the lipid bilayer environment is pictured as a hydropho bic structureless slab providing a thermodynamic driving force to partition the amino acids of a membrane protein according to their solubility. However, much of the molecular complexity of the phospholipid bilayer environment is ignored in such a simplified view. It is likely that the atomic details of the polar head group region and the transition from the bulk water to the hydrophobic core of the membrane are important. An understanding of the factors responsible for the function of biomembranes thus requires a better characterization at the molec ular level of how proteins interact with lipid molecules, of how lipids affect protein structure and of how lipid molecules might regulate protein function.

This book provides in-depth presentations in membrane biology by specialists of international repute. The volumes examine world literature on recent advances in understanding the molecular struc-ture and properties of membranes, the role they play in cellular physiology and cell-cell interactions, and the alterations leading to abnormal cells. Illustrations, tables, and useful appendices com-plement the text. Those professionals actively working in the field of cell membrane investigations as well as biologists, biochemists, biophysicists, physicians, and academicians, will find this work beneficial.

Biological membranes play a central role in cell structure, shape and functions. However, investigating the membrane bilayer has proved to be difficult due to its highly dynamic and anisotropic structure, which generates steep gradients at the nanometer scale. Due to the decisive impact of recently developed fluorescence-based techniques, tremendous advances have been made in the last few years in our understanding of membrane characteristics and functions. In this context, the present book illustrates some of these major advances by collecting review articles written by highly respected experts. The book is organized in three parts, the first of which deals with membrane probes and model membranes. The second part describes the use of advanced quantitative and high-resolution techniques to explore the properties of biological membranes, illustrating the key progress made regarding membrane organization, dynamics and interactions. The third part is focused on the investigation of membrane proteins using the same techniques, and notably on the membrane receptors that play a central role in signaling pathways and therapeutic strategies. All chapters provide comprehensive information on membranes and their exploration for beginners in the field and advanced researchers alike.

First published in 1990, the goal of these two volumes is to help fill the gap between theory and experiment in membrane science. Those involved with biochemistry, biophysics, pharmacology, and biology will find these volumes interesting and informative.

This volume is the third of a series on Membrane Proteins and, like the pre ceding manuals, is the result of an International Advanced Course entitled Isolation and Characterization of Membrane Proteins: Biochemical and Bio physical Aspects sponsored by the Federation of European Biochemical So cieties (FEBS) and the Italian Research Council (CNR). The success of the course and the continuous development in the field of membrane biology has prompted me to publish also in this case the protocols of the experiments which were carried out by the students. The students have been able not only to perform the experiments pub lished in this manual without help from the instructors, but also to suggest improvements, which have been incorporated in the published version. Care has been taken in making the planning and the execution of the ex periments as simple as possible, by listing in detail all the necessary pieces of equipment, test tubes, pipettes, chemicals, etc. At the same time the intro duction and the "philosophy" have been limited to the essential, as also the references, only those having been listed which may help in a better under standing of the principles and of the biological background of a given experi ment.

The goal of these two volumes is to help fill the gap between theory and experiment in membrane science. This is the only work available today which covers the domain of computer-aided conformational analyses of membranes. Written in a detailed, yet comprehensive manner, this book uses the semi-empirical approach as a way to give a molecular description of the membrane structure in organized systems. This interesting work establishes the validity and quality of the prediction by making a permanent comparison with the experimental data. This reference aims to use this comparison to open a new avenue in the molecular description of the biological membrane. Those involved with biochemistry, biophysics, pharmacology, and biology will find these volumes interesting and informative.