Membrane science, origins

The first report of osmotic phenomena by French Cleric Abbe Nollet [1] in 1748 might be considered the origin of membrane science. Nollet s work generated extensive interest in osmosis culminating ultimately in van t Hoffs [2] quantitative relationships in 1887. 

Keenan, T. W., Dylewski, D. P., Woodford, T. A. and Ford, R. H. 1983A. Origin of milk fat globules and the nature of the milk fat globule membrane. In Developments in Dairy Chemistry, Vol. 2 Lipids, P.F. Fox (Editor). Applied Science Publishers, London, pp. 83-118. 

Roise, D and Maduke, M. (1994) Import of a Mitochondrial Presequence into P. Denitrificans, FEBS Letters, 337, 9-13 Cavalier-Smith, T. (1987) The Simultaneous Symbiotic Origin of Mitochondria, Chloroplasts and Microbodies, Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 503, 55-71 Cavalier-Smith, T. (1992) The Number of Symbiotic Origins of Organelles, BioSystems, 28, 91-106 Hartl, F Ostermann, J., Guiard, B and Neupert, W. (1987) Successive Translocation into and out of the Mitochondrial Matrix Targeting of Proteins to the Inner Membrane Space by a Bipartite Signal Peptide, Cell, 51,1027-1037. 

The electrical aspects of membrane phenomena have long been of interest in science, and attracted the attention in the nineteenth century of famous physical chemists including Gibbs, Nernst, Planck, and Ostwald. Originally, this interest was connected to electrical phenomena in biological systems. In the present discussion attention is focused on membranes used in specific ion electrodes. 

Crosby DG (1971) Minor insecticides of plant origin. In Jacobson MJ, Crosby DG (eds) Naturally occurring insecticides. Dekker, New York, pp 177-239 Cukierman S (1991) Inactivation modifiers of Na currents and the gating of rat brain Na channels in planar lipid membranes. Pfliigers Arch 419 514-521 Daly JW, Myers CW, Warnick JE, Albuquerque EX (1980) Levels of batrachotoxin and lack of sensitivity to its action in poison-dart frogs (Phyllobates). Science 208 1383-1385... 

---