Water and Ions in Biological Systems

As the First International Conference on Water and Ions in Biological Systems (Bucharest, June 25-27, 1980) was appreciated as a success, a second one was organized in the fall of the year 1982 under the sponsorship of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences, the Romanian Biophysical Society (Union of Societies for Medical Sciences in the Socialist Republic of Romania) and in co­ operation with the International Union for Pure and Applied Bio­ physics (IUPAB). The responsibility for the scientific program and organization of the Second Conference on Water fell on an International Scientific Committee which included Prof. J. Tigyi (Pees), President of the UNESCO Expert Committee on Biophysics, Prof. K. Wuthrich, Secretary General of IUPAB and Prof. H. Eisenberg, (member of the IUPAB Council) under the guidance of an Executive Board whose members were Prof. J. Jaz (representative of UNESCO), Prof. B. Pullman (Vice­ President of IUPAB) and Prof. V. Vasilescu (President of the Romanian Biophysical Society). The Meeting was attended by more than 250 specialists including 150 Romanian participants and others from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, England, the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, Greece, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, USSR, USA, Venezuela, Yugoslavia. The proceedings of the Conference took place in the Medical Faculty of Bucharest. The theoretical and practical importance of the Meeting was pointed out by the speakers, among whom were Prof.

Introductory Remarks.- Opening Address.- Plenary Lectures.- Water in Biological Systems as Studied by NMR and Neutron Scattering Techniques.- Theoretical Models for Calcium Channels in Nerve Cells.- Development of Water Research in Biology.- Water and Ions in Neurobiophysical Processes.- Symposia Interactions in Ternary Systems — Water, Ions, Biopolymers.- Dynamic Interaction of Water Molecules, Inorganic Ions and Chromatin Structures in Isolated Thymus Nuclei.- Metal Ion Effect on Molecule Sizes and Intramolecular Interaction in DNA.- Experimental Confirmation of the Polarized Multilayer Theory of Cell Water Including Data that Lead to an Improved Definition of Colloids.- The Influence of Ions on Water Structure and on Aqueous Systems.- Organization and Function of Water in Native Conformation of Macromolecules.- Divalent Metals and Cancer.- Computer Simulations of Structural Organization of Water around Biomolecule.- Hydrate-H2O and Liquid Like H2O.H2O Interactions which are Necessary for Biological Activity.- Hydration of DNA and Possible Role of Water in the Transition between Right- and Left-Handed Double Helix.- Ion Pairs of Simple Electrolytes and of Polyionic Biopolymers in Electric Fields.- The Role of Water of Hydration in Acylation of Butyrylcholinesterase.- Conformational Changes of Rhodopsin in H2O, D2O and T2O.- Hydration and Thermotransition of Collagen Fiber.- Hydrophobic Interactions; Their Role in the Organization of Supramolecular Systems.- The Intracavitary Basis of Solute Partitioning in Dextran (Sephadex®) Gels and the Role of Vicinal Water.- The Role of Hydrophobic Interaction on Hydration Forces in Thin Aqueous Layers.- On the Interaction of Lecithin Vesicles with Chaotropic Ions.- The Structure of Some Lecithin Monolayers at the Air/Water Interface.- Water and Ions in Heterogeneous Systems.- An Estimation of the Density of Water in Artemia Cells.- Microwave Conductivity of Free, “Bulk” and Bound Water.- Bound Water in Plants.- The ?H NMR Relaxation of Water in Avian Eggs.- Anomalous Volume Properties of Vicinal Water and Some Recent Thermodynamic (DSC) Measurements Relevant to Cell-Physiology.- Water and Solute Transport.- Volume Regulation in Carp Kidney Tissue as Influenced by Various Osmotic Agents.- Modifications of Human Erythrocyte Membranes and Their Effect on Water Permeability Studied by a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Technique.- Cation Transport during the Cell Cycle of Neuroblastoma Cells.- Selectivity Rules for the Ion Transport in Narrow Channels through Biological Membranes from Geometrical and Dynamical Properties.- Ionic Regulation of Growth in Normal and Tumor Cells.- Effects of pH and of Temperature on Saturable Transport Processes.- Transport of Binary and Ternary Electrolytes through Charged Membranes with Allowance for Interactions.- Effect of Protein Cross-Linking on Excitable and Non-Excitable Membranes.- Isosmotic Volume Regulation by Human Lymphocytes.- Band 3 Protein-Mediated Anion Transport Across the Red Cell Membrane: the Site of Action of the Inhibitors, 4,4?-di isothiocyano dihydrostilbene-2,2?-disulfonate (H2dids) and 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (N2ph-F).- Water Permeability of the Lipid Bilayer: Experimental Studies of the Structure of Some Simple Bilayers.- Active Monovalent Cation Transport in Canine Cardiac Tissues.- Transport of Anions in the Fresh-Water. Alga Hydrodictyon Reticulatum.- Ionic Conductivities in Gastric Mucosa under Osmotic Gradients.- Water Transport in Root Systems and the Nature of Root Pressure.- Role of Water and Ions in Membrane Structure and Function. Water and Ions in Evolution of Biological Systems.- Freezing: a Tool for the Preservation and Separation of Islets of Langerhans.- Hydration Dependent Lipid Phase Transitions in a Biological Membrane.- Mechanisms of Proton-Hydroxide Flux Across Membranes.- Ion Permeability and Membrane Potential in Viral Disease.- Molecular Asymmetries in Biological Evolution and the Role of Water and Ions.- Electrical Properties of the Phospholipid/Water Interface.- DSC-Study on the Interaction between Monovalent Cations and DPPC.- Chloride Fluxes in the Erythroblastic Leukemic Cell: An Example of Membrane Differentiation.- Role of Vicinal Water in Cellular Evolution.- Proton Translocation and Bioenergetic Phenomena.- Application of Chemical Modification and Spin Labeling Techniques to the Study of Energy Conversion by Bacteriorhodopsin.- Mechanism of Proton Translocation by the b-c1 Complex of Mitochondrial Respiratory Chain.- The Structural and Functional Organization of Water Cleavage in Photosynthesis.- Analysis of Proton Translocation through Hydrogen-Bonded Chains Using Molecular Orbital Methods.- H+ Gradient Changes: their Measurement and their Significance in Cell Stimulation.- Calcium and the Regulation of Cellular Processes. Water and Ions in Muscle.- Calcium Dependent Regulation of Conformational Change in the SH2 Region of Skeletal Myosin.- The Role of Calcium Ions in the Conformational Changes of Troponin.- Potassium Loss and Water Uptake of Stimulated Frog Muscle.- Dependence of the Electrical and Contractile Activities of the Gastric Smooth Muscle on Ca Ions.- Calcium Extrusion Pump of the Smooth Muscle Cell Membrane.- Regulation of Pinocytosis in Amoeba Proteus by the Calcium Ion.- Heavy Water Effects in Living Systems.- Steric versus Electronic Components of Secondary Deuterium Isotope Effects Depend on the Size of Electrophilic Probes.- D2O/H2O Permeability of Membranes by Light Scattering.- The Isotope Effect of D2O on the Fire-Fly Bioluminescence Spectra.- Two Distinct Orders in Agarose Biostructural Gels: Transition Kinetics and the Role of Temperature and Isotopic Substitution.- Physical Techniques in the Study of Water in Biological Systems. Cryobiology.- On the State of Water in Biological Systems. Evaluation of Methods of its Investigations.- An ESR Study of the Oxidation and Reduction of Bisulfite (Hydrated Sulfur Dioxide) in Biological Systems.- NMR Studies of the Role of Intracellular Sodium Ions in the Mechanism of Insulin Action on an Amphibian Oocyte.- The Loss of Intracellular Water during Freezing in Presence of Hydroxyethyl Starch.- Erythrocytes in Alternating Electric Fields.- Water in Polymers and Artemia Cysts: Relation of Neutron Scattering and NMR Results.- Water, Ions and Drug Action, Including Anesthetics.- The Effect of Inhalation Anesthetics on Epithelial Water and Ion Transport “in vivo”: Studies in Rats.- Water and DNA-Drug Interaction.- Mapping by the MTD Method of a Catecholamine Receptor Implied in the Ionic Permeability of Cell Membranes.- Superoxide Anion in Acute CCl4 Intoxication; the Protective Action of ZnCl2.- Ionic Channels.- The Ordered Water Ion Channel Model.- Gating Kinetics in Ionic Channels.- Threshold Function of the Nerve Excitable Membrane and the Noise Associated to Ionic Currents.