Biomembranes : Passive Permeability of Cell Membranes

Molecular transport of substances in the presence or absence of membranes is an ubiquitous phenomenon. Research workers from various disciplines in the biological and phys­ ical sciences are actively pursuing problems of transport. One of the important questions arising in numerous biological transport situations concerns the differentiation between passive and active transport. The latter is a more complex phenomenon involving metabolic processes and the economy of thinking requires that attempts to explain any transport pro­ cess from passive mechanisms should be carried as far as pos­ sible before invoking more complex mechanisms. A precise de­ finition and circumscription of passive transport processes is of crucial importance. The symposium on Passive permea­ bility of cell membranes was therefore devoted to these pas­ sive transport processes and this book presents the proceed­ ings of the conference. This symposium a satellite symposium of the XXV Inter­ national Congress of Physiological Sciences at Munich Ger­ many on July 25-31 1971 was organized by the Department of Physiology University of Nijmegen Nijmegen The Nether­ lands. It was held at the Hilton Hotel in Rotterdam on July 20-22 1971. The meeting was made possible by generous fi­ nancial support from the Dutch Ministry of Education and Science (Ministerie van Onderwijs en Wetenschappenl and from Boehringer Mannheim N. V. Ciba N. V. Essex (Nederland) N. V. Gist-Brocades N. V. Hoffmann - La Roche N. V. Merck Sharp and Dohme Nederland N. V. N. V. Philips and Unilever N.