Fluorescent and dispersion experiments on biological membranes under micro-gravity
Meissner, K.; Piqueira, J.R.C.; Hanke, W.
Journal of Gravitational Physiology a Journal of the International Society for Gravitational Physiology 11(2): P195-P196
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 1077-9248 PMID: 16237835 Document Number: 572515
Almost all biological processes, especially those involved in signal reception and signal transduction, depend on the physical and physiological properties of biological membranes. It has been shown, that neuronal tissue and the speed of the action potential (AP) which is the basic neuronal unit of all nervous activity, is sensitive to changes in gravity as well as to other weak external forces. We strongly suppose the membrane to be the most important factor in gravitational responses although it is very difficult to observe the effects of gravity changes on these fragile thermodynamic systems. Therefore we developed two different experiments to measure the structural changes and the lateral membrane tension of spheroid cells under microgravity.