Abstract
Theoretical considerations lead to the expectation of some regularities in the apparently random changes of shape of an ameba. We should expect quasiperiodic fluctuations of the ratio of the perimeter to the area of the optical cross-section of an ameba, when plotted against time. The quasi-period should be characteristic of the species. Preliminary experiments appear to bear out that prediction.
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Literature
Stanton, Henry E. 1943. “Theory of Cell Pulsations.”Bull. Math. Biophysics,5, 15–22.
Rashevsky, N. 1939. “Mathematical Biophysics of the Cell with Reference to the Contractability of Tissues and Ameboid Movements.”Bull. Math. Biophysics,1, 47–62.
Rashevsky, N. 1943. “On the Theory of Ameboid Movements.”Bull. Math. Biophysics,5, 95–98.
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Buchsbaum, R., Rashevsky, N. & Stanton, H.E. A note on the mathematical biophysics of ameboid movements. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 6, 61–63 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02478482
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02478482