title: Thermal proteinoids as excitability-inducing materials.
abstract: The deposition of thermal copolyamino acids on planar lipid membranes causes oscillations and action potentials upon electrical stimulation. Results are reported for compositionally simple thermal copoly(asp,glu) and for a more heterotonic polyamino acid. The data conform to the interference that electrical activity of cellular membranes is due to the polypeptide components, not to the lipid components. Because of the ease and controllability of producing polypeptides by thermal copolymerization of amino acids, new possibilities in investigation of structure-excitability relationships are provided.
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids; D004563:Electrochemistry; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008863:Microspheres; D011506:Proteins; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D011506:Proteins