Artificial electric organ, development

Bioelectric Organization of Nervous Tissue. The membrane potential of 70 mV is developed across the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane. This layer is approximately 40 8 thick, so that the transmembrane electric gradient is of the order of 105 V/cm. This extraordinary dielectric strength is not easily replicated in artificial materials. It is noteworthy that the resting membrane potential maintains this dielectric bilayer within a factor of two of electrical breakdown (19). Release of neural transmitter substances from synaptic terminals on the nerve cell surface transiently shifts the membrane potential at the site of release by a few millivolts. In terms of an altered transmembrane gradient, this shift is of the order of 1.0 kV/cm. 

Electrical Communication in Biocatalyzed Artificial Photosynthetic Systems. The various biocatalyzed photosynthetic systems discussed in Sections IV.C.l and IV.C.2 have applied diffusional electron carrier (native cofactors or synthetic electron mediators). For practical application of biocatalyzed photosynthetic systems, it is important to construct photosystems where the components are organized in an immobilized configuration that allows continuous regeneration of photochemical assembly. Yet the redox sites of enzymes do not communicate electrically with electron sources (or holes) located externally to the protein backbone (see Section IV.C). Thus construction of immobilized biocatalytic assemblies requires the development of nondiffusional means for electrical communication [92] between the enzyme redox site and the externally located excited species. 

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