ELECTRICAL AND CHEMICAL OSCILLATIONS IN COUPLED CELL SYSTEMS

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We use mathematical models to study the mechanisms of oscillatory electrica activity arising from ion channels in cell membranes and modulated by intracellular chemical processes. We are interested in both the behavior o single cells and the ways in which cells communicate and modify each other' behavior. Our main application has been to the biophysical basis of insulin secretion in pancreatic beta-cells. We have examined bursting oscillations in membra potential and the role of electrical coupling between cells in the islet of Langerhans. Long term goals are to understand how the membrane dynamics interact with intracellular events to regulate secretion and to generalize other secretory cells and neurons. Our primary tool is the numerical solution of ordinary and partial differential equations. We use analytical, geometrical, graphical, and numerical techniques from the mathematical theory of dynamical systems to help construct and interpret the models. Perturbation techniques are used get analytical results in special cases. We study both detailed biophysical models and simplified models which are more amenable to analysis. Such an approach aids the isolation of the essential or minimal mechanisms underlying phenomena, the search for genera principles, and the application of concepts and analogies from other fields We see a role for our group as intermediaries between the mathematical and biological disciplines. This includes disseminating the insights of mathematical work to biologists in accessible language and alerting mathematicians and other theoreticians to new and challenging problems arising from biological issues.