Sensory Reception: Cytology, Molecular Mechanisms And Evolution (molecular Biology, Biochemistry And Biophysics Molekularbiologie, Biochemie Und Biophysik)

This book presents a distillation of many years of investigation by the author and his associates on the problem of sensory reception. Both our own data and data from the scientific literature on the electron microscopy, cytochemistry, biochemistry and electrophysiology of the organs of vision, taste, smell, hearing and gravitation, are presented to show that the evolution of the sense organs of all animals on our planet is based on a receptor cell equipped with a motile antenna, a biological recorder of information concerning certain types of energy reaching the animal from the environment. The conversion or encoding of this energy into information is effected with the aid of special protein molecules positioned in the plasma membrane of the antennae. The action of the unit of energy of a stimulus on such a specific protein molecule causes a change of shape, and this is the basis of the trigger mechanism of reception, leading to the stimulation of the receptor cell and the transmission of the information encoded in this cell in the form of nerve impulses to the central nervous system. The present monograph summarizes over 30 years of working experience by the author and his associates in the field of evolution of sense organs. Material is used here from his earlier monographs: The Retina of the Eye Vertebrates, 1947, The Morphology of the Organ of Smell, 1957, The Organ of Corti: Its Histophy­ siology and Histochemistry, 1964, written jointly with L. K. This book presents a distillation of many years of investigation by the author and his associates on the problem of sensory reception. Both our own data and data from the scientific literature on the electron microscopy, cytochemistry, biochemistry and electrophysiology of the organs of vision, taste, smell, hearing and gravitation, are presented to show that the evolution of the sense organs of all animals on our planet is based on a receptor cell equipped with a motile antenna, a biological recorder of information concerning certain types of energy reaching the animal from the environment. The conversion or encoding of this energy into information is effected with the aid of special protein molecules positioned in the plasma membrane of the antennae. The action of the unit of energy of a stimulus on such a specific protein molecule causes a change of shape, and this is the basis of the trigger mechanism of reception, leading to the stimulation of the receptor cell and the transmission of the information encoded in this cell in the form of nerve impulses to the central nervous system. The present monograph summarizes over 30 years of working experience by the author and his associates in the field of evolution of sense organs. Material is used here from his earlier monographs: The Retina of the Eye Vertebrates, 1947, The Morphology of the Organ of Smell, 1957, The Organ of Corti: Its HistophyƯ siology and Histochemistry, 1964, written jointly with L.K Front Matter....Pages I-IX The Problem of Reception and the Evolution of the Cytological and Molecular Organization of Sense Organs....Pages 1-4 Structure and Development of Biological Membranes....Pages 5-24 Ultrastructural and Molecular Organization of Antennae....Pages 25-40 Structural and Cytochemical Organization of Synapses....Pages 41-58 Vision....Pages 59-131 Taste....Pages 132-169 Smell....Pages 170-207 Hearing....Pages 208-271 Gravity Reception....Pages 272-321 The Molecular Theory of Sensory Reception....Pages 322-335 Back Matter....Pages 336-393