Converging Images: Techniques of Intervention and Forms of Representation of Sodium-Channel Proteins in Nerve Cell Membranes

Journal of the History of Biology

Volumn 30, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 55-89

  Trumpler, Maria ^a  

^a YALE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CELL MEMBRANE; HISTORY; HUMAN; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; NERVOUS SYSTEM;

CELL MEMBRANE; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; NERVOUS SYSTEM;

EID: 0031091436     PISSN: 00225010     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/A:1004218611538     Document Type: Article

References (32)

1. Although I am aware of the ongoing debate among cognitive scientists over experimental evidence for or against the existence of mental images, I am here concerned with historical evidence for their use by scientists in imaging molecules. For an overview of the debate see Michael Tye, The Imagery Debate (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Bradford Press, 1991); and for an overview of evidence in favor of the use of mental images in problem solving, see Stephen M. Kosslyn, Image and Mind (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980).
2. Although I am aware of the ongoing debate among cognitive scientists over experimental evidence for or against the existence of mental images, I am here concerned with historical evidence for their use by scientists in imaging molecules. For an overview of the debate see Michael Tye, The Imagery Debate (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Bradford Press, 1991); and for an overview of evidence in favor of the use of mental images in problem solving, see Stephen M. Kosslyn, Image and Mind (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980).
3. A. L. Hodgkin and A. F. Huxley, "Measurement of Current-Voltage Relations in the Membrane of the Giant Axon of Loligo," J. Physiol., 116 (1952), 424-448; idem, "Currents Carried by Sodium and Potassium Ions through the Membrane of the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 449-472; idem, "The Components of Membrane Conductance in the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 473-496; idem, "The Dual Effect of Membrane Potential on Sodium Conductance in the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 497-506; idem, "A Quantitative Description of Membrane Current and Its Application to Conduction and Excitation in Nerve," ibid., 117, 500-544.
4. A. L. Hodgkin and A. F. Huxley, "Measurement of Current-Voltage Relations in the Membrane of the Giant Axon of Loligo," J. Physiol., 116 (1952), 424-448; idem, "Currents Carried by Sodium and Potassium Ions through the Membrane of the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 449-472; idem, "The Components of Membrane Conductance in the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 473-496; idem, "The Dual Effect of Membrane Potential on Sodium Conductance in the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 497-506; idem, "A Quantitative Description of Membrane Current and Its Application to Conduction and Excitation in Nerve," ibid., 117, 500-544.
5. A. L. Hodgkin and A. F. Huxley, "Measurement of Current-Voltage Relations in the Membrane of the Giant Axon of Loligo," J. Physiol., 116 (1952), 424-448; idem, "Currents Carried by Sodium and Potassium Ions through the Membrane of the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 449-472; idem, "The Components of Membrane Conductance in the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 473-496; idem, "The Dual Effect of Membrane Potential on Sodium Conductance in the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 497-506; idem, "A Quantitative Description of Membrane Current and Its Application to Conduction and Excitation in Nerve," ibid., 117, 500-544.
6. A. L. Hodgkin and A. F. Huxley, "Measurement of Current-Voltage Relations in the Membrane of the Giant Axon of Loligo," J. Physiol., 116 (1952), 424-448; idem, "Currents Carried by Sodium and Potassium Ions through the Membrane of the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 449-472; idem, "The Components of Membrane Conductance in the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 473-496; idem, "The Dual Effect of Membrane Potential on Sodium Conductance in the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 497-506; idem, "A Quantitative Description of Membrane Current and Its Application to Conduction and Excitation in Nerve," ibid., 117, 500-544.
7. A. L. Hodgkin and A. F. Huxley, "Measurement of Current-Voltage Relations in the Membrane of the Giant Axon of Loligo," J. Physiol., 116 (1952), 424-448; idem, "Currents Carried by Sodium and Potassium Ions through the Membrane of the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 449-472; idem, "The Components of Membrane Conductance in the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 473-496; idem, "The Dual Effect of Membrane Potential on Sodium Conductance in the Giant Axon of Loligo," ibid., pp. 497-506; idem, "A Quantitative Description of Membrane Current and Its Application to Conduction and Excitation in Nerve," ibid., 117, 500-544.
8. Hodgkin and Huxley, "Quantitative Description," p. 518.
9. Ibid., p. 541.
10. Alan Hodgkin, Chance and Design: Reminiscences of Science in Peace and War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 67.
11. Hodgkin and Huxley, "Quantitative Description" (above, n. 2), p. 500.
12. Ibid., p. 501.
13. Books that start with an equivalent circuit and then include the Hodgkin-Huxley conductance curves include D. J. Aidley, The Physiology of Excitable Cells, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978); and Bernard Katz, Nerve, Muscle and Synapse (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966).
14. Books that start with an equivalent circuit and then include the Hodgkin-Huxley conductance curves include D. J. Aidley, The Physiology of Excitable Cells, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978); and Bernard Katz, Nerve, Muscle and Synapse (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966).
15. Robert Barchi, "Probing the Molecular Structure of the Voltage-Dependent Sodium Channel," Ann. Rev. Neuorsci., 11 (1988), 456.
16. O. P. Hamill, et al., "Improved Patch Clamp Technique for High-Resolution Current Recording from Cells and Cell-Free Membrane Patches," Pfluegers Arch., 391 (1981), 85-100.
17. + Channel Currents Observed in Cultured Rat Muscle Cells," Nature, 287 (1980), 447-449.
18. R. W. Aldrich, D. P. Corey, and C. F. Stevens, "A Reinterpretation of Mammalian Sodium Channel Gating Based on Single Channel Recording," Nature, 308 (1984), 436-441.
19. Hans Meves, "A New View of the Sodium Channel," in "News and Views," Nature, 306 (1983), 425.
20. S. J. Singer and G. L. Nicolson, "The Fluid Mosaic Model of the Structure of Cell Membranes," Science, 175 (1972), 720-728.
21. See, for example, the articles in Cold Spr. Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol., 48 (1983).
22. Robert Rosenberg, Sally Tomiko, and William Agnew, "Single-Channel Properties of the Reconstituted Voltage-Regulated Na Channel Isolated from the Electroplax of Electrophorus electricus," Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 81 (1984), 5594-5598.
23. Ibid., p. 5594.
24. Masaharu Noda [et al.] and Shosaku Numa, "Primary Structure of Electrophorus electricus Sodium Channel Deduced from cDNA Sequence," Nature, 312 (1984), 121-127.
25. H. R. Guy and P. Seetharamulu, "Molecular Model of the Action Potential Sodium Channel," Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 83 (1986), 509-513.
26. I want to thank Tom Woolf and Fred Sigworth for access to their videeo of such a computer model.
27. Walter Stuehmer, et al., "Structural Parts Involved in Activation and Inactivation of the Sodium Channel," Nature, 339 (1989), 597-603.
28. Richard Aldrich, "Mutating and Gating," in "News and Views," Nature, 339 (1989), 578-579.
29. Bruno Latour, "Drawing Things Together," in Representation in Scientific Practice, Michael Lynch and Steve Woolgar, eds., (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1990), pp. 19-68 (especially pp. 26-35). See also the other essays in this volume.
30. Stewart R. Durell and H. Robert Guy, "Atomic Scale Structure and Functional Models of Voltage-Gated Potassium Channels," Biophys. J., 62 (1992), 238-250, quotation on p. 247.
31. Ibid., p. 248.
32. Ibid., p. 249.