The lipid bilayer is a perfect electrical insulator and provides the basis for molecular information processing at the cell membrane.
Information processing in the central nervous system relies on the precise interplay of electrical and chemical signals. Action potential generation, propagation, and the initiating events causing transmitter release from the synaptic terminus are determined by the activity of a variety of ion channels.
Voltage-activated calcium channels open in response to membrane depolarization allowing the entry of calcium ions into excitable cells that in turn triggers multiple cellular events including neurotransmission, excitation-contraction coupling, gene expression and hormone secretion.
Intracellular ion concentrations regulate various cellular processes. Changes in the cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration represent a key signal for many cellular processes
Monogenetic diseases provide a direct link between a change in protein function to cell and organ dysfunction. Studying monogenetic diseases often permits identification of cellular roles of ion channels.
In the human disease retinitis pigmentosa the photoreceptors degenerate, leading to blindness.
Publications of IBI-1
