Ionic molecular trains

Hesselink attempted to calculate theoretical adsorption isotherms for flexible polyelectrolyte chains using one train and one tail conformation (1) and loop-train conformation (2) as functions of the surface charge, polyion charge density, ionic strength, as well as molecular weight. His theoretical treatment led to extensive conclusions, which can be compared with the relevant experimental data. 

Thanks to the studies of Hodgkin Huxley, which culminated in 1952 with the publication of a series of articles, of which the last was of theoretical nature, the physicochemical bases of neuronal excitability giving rise to the action potential were elucidated. Soon after, Huxley (1959) showed how a nerve cell can generate a train of action potentials in a periodic manner (see also Connor, Walter McKown, 1977 Aihara Matsumoto, 1982 Rinzel Ermentrout, 1989). Even if the properties of the ionic channels involved have not yet been fully elucidated, cardiac oscillations originate in a similar manner from the pacemaker properties of the specialized, electrically excitable tissues of the heart (Noble, 1979,1984 Noble Powell, 1987 Noble, DiFrancesco Denyer, 1989 DiFrancesco, 1993). These examples remained the only biological rhythms whose molecular mechanism was known to some extent, until the discovery of biochemical oscillations. 

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