Report on bioelectrochemistry IV

Abstract

The fourth advanced course in Bioelectrochemistry, “Nerve-Muscle Function: Bioelectrochemistry, Mechanisms, Energetics and Control”, took place at the Majorana Centre in Erice, Italy, 20 October-l November 1991. The scope of the meeting was international in terms of both sponsorship and participation. Sponsors included the Bioelectrochemical Society, NATO, International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB), the World Federation of Scientists and various Italian Government Agencies (including the Italian National Research Council). One-third of the 60 participants were from Italy, but the majority of the participants came from 18 other nations. The full title of the course indicates the main aspects of the subject that were covered in the lectures and the discussions. Since the course was part of the International School of Biophysics there was an emphasis on the biophysical point of view while integrating the biology with the electrochemistry. For example, early in the course G. Milazzo (Rome) asked the lecturers to use a quantitative approach with accepted standards and proper units, since this is absolutely essential for developing an effective common language for communication across disciplines. M. Blank (New York) urged participants not to forget that ion channels are proteins and that their properties as polyelectrolytes contribute to the specific biological properties. Also, the existence of families of channels with very similar structures but different selectivities suggests that the specificities arise from slight variations of a general scheme. These perspectives on nerve-muscle function were evident during the lectures and discussions, and in this way the school presented a unique treatment of the subject. The first major focus of the meeting was the calcium ion. A survey of calcium ion homeostasis in muscle and nerve was presented by E. Rios (Chicago) and T. Pozzan (Padua), starting from the coordination chemistry and chelation properties in aqueous media and applying these principles to calcium ions in cytoplasm and various organelles. Following these lectures there was a treatment of ion fluxes