The present manual contains a collection of laboratory instructions used during an international training course on membrane biophysics which was held at Homburg in the fall of 1966. The selection of the topics dealt with in the various chapters depended on the scientific interest of the available teachers and on the availability of the necessary equipment in our laboratories. Thus, the material included in this volume does not add up to a systematic course in membrane biophysics. Instead it represents a more fortuitous collection of laboratory problems. In addition, some authors place more emphasis on teaching the more technical aspects of a method whereas others are primarily concerned with the demonstra tion of a significant biological phenomenon. Nevertheless, in spite of such differences of emphasis and a somewhat haphazard choice of a few methods and phenomena among many others of similar importance, it was felt that the publication of the material is desirable. Since no other laboratory manual exists so far, the present laboratory problems which were tested in actual practice may serve as a useful basis for the shaping of further training courses or for laboratory courses for graduate students in biophysics and physiology. Our thanks are due to the authors and the publisher who were patient and kind enough to cooperate with the editors during the long period between the end of the course and the appearance of the book.

Measurement of Hydraulic Conductivity and Reflexion Coefficients of a Plant Cell Membrane by means of Transcellular Osmosis

Flux Measurements in Erythrocytes
Ion Permeability of Erythrocyte Ghosts
Countertransport in Human Red Blood Cells
Kinetics of Cation Transport in Yeast
Bacterial Permeases
The Exchange of 22Na between Frog Sartorius Muscle and the Bathing Medium
Determination of Intracellular Ionic Concentrations and Activities
Experiments on Na Transport of Frog Skin Epithelium
Micropuncture and Microanalysis in Kidney Physiology
Oscillatory Phenomena in a Porous, Fixed Charge Membrane
Bimolecular Lipid Membranes: Techniques of Formation, Study of Electrical Properties, and Induction of Ionic Gating Phenomena
Dissection of Single Nerve Fibres and Measurement of Membrane Potential Changes of Ranvier Nodes by means of the Double Air Gap Method
Ionic Currents in the Myelinated Nerve Fibre
A New Voltage Clamp Method
Electrical Activity of Synapses. The Crayfish Neuromuscular Junction
Author Index.