title: Geometric and many-particle aspects of transmitter binding.
abstract: We investigate the various reactivity patterns possible when several transmitter molecules, released at one side of a synaptic gap, diffuse and bind reversibly to a single receptor at the other end. In the framework of a one-dimensional approximation, the complete time, reactivity, concentration and gap-width dependence are determined, using a rigorous theoretical and computational approach to the many-body aspects of this problem. The time dependence of the survival probability is found to consist of up to four phases. These include a short delay followed by gaussian, power-law, and exponential decay phases. A rigorous expression is derived for the long-time exponent and approximate expressions are obtained for describing the short-time gaussian phase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Agmon
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Edelstein
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007700:Kinetics; D008433:Mathematics; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction / Q000378:metabolism; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000378:metabolism; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology; D013572:Synaptic Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic; D000109:Acetylcholine