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Threshold secretory mechanism: A model of derivative element in biological control

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Abstract

A secretory system can be considered a collection of packets of a stored substance, each pecket characterized by a threshold to a stimulatory releasing agent. In terms of macroscopic release of the substance, the rate equation contains explicitly and naturally the time derivative of the stimulus intensity. Elaboration of this general model for threshold secretory mechanisms was motivated by insulin secretion data discussed here. Experimental data on the same type of secretory system (pancreas), the hormone secretion as well as electrical characteristics of the secretory cells, lead to a conjecture that the packets might be identified with the whole secretory cells, rather than the granules or vessicles of the stored hormone.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, 94122, San Francisco, California

    Vojtech Ličko

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  1. Vojtech Ličko
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Ličko, V. Threshold secretory mechanism: A model of derivative element in biological control. Bltn Mathcal Biology 35, 51–58 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02558793

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02558793

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