Abstract
In this introductory chapter I will review basic cellular processes and structures, emphasising the dynamic activity inherent in these biological systems. Our present knowledge of biological structure and functional activity derives from two distinct approaches, structural studies, made on living material in the light microscope and preserved material in the electron microscope; and biochemical studies made on whole living tissues and isolated tissue and cell fractions. While cytochemical studies on cells and microscopical studies on cell fractions represent attempts to bridge the gap between these two approaches there is still a lack of direct information on the dynamic activities of cells below the level of resolution of the light microscope. Our present information is largely derived from extrapolations of biochemical rate processes to the cellular level. These are made over comparatively long time scales and tell us little about the way in which these processes are controlled or modulated in the cell on a biologically significant time scale.
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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York
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Steer, M.W. (1983). Structure and Movement in Cells. In: Earnshaw, J.C., Steer, M.W. (eds) The Application of Laser Light Scattering to the Study of Biological Motion. NATO Advanced Science Institutes Series, vol 59. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4487-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4487-2_2
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