BIOC32H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Voltmeter, Biophysics, Cell Membrane
Document Summary
There are many different types of cellular response cell signaling, neurotransmitters, etc. One most basic read out is whether it is excited or inhibited (read as changing electrolyte concentrations electrophysiology) They used the laws of thermodynamics within the whole animal to figure out electrophysiology. Neurophysiologists: they explain behavior in animals using anatomical connections and rules of cellular response. Biophysicists: they explain rules of cellular response using physical chemistry and electricity. They use kinetic models and the rules of thermodynamics and electrostatics to address different hypotheses. Membrane theory is also known as potassium electrode hypothesis. The interior of the cell is different from the exterior of the cell separated by the membrane in between. At rest or any other state there is a pre-existing electrical difference between the inside and outside of the cell. Only excitable cells can respond to this difference though.
