Protein Secretion: A Critical Analysis of the Vesicle Model

by S.S. Rothman

Investigates a new model of protein secretion and challenges the vesicle theory of transport, which is based on the notion that protein molecules can not pass through biological membranes or through channels within them. The book develops a diffusion-based model of transport, known as the equilibrium theory, which views the secretion of protein as an integral part of the study of biological transport. It discusses the general context for the vesicle paradigm, describes the paradigm and critically examines its assumptions (viz, the impermeability of membranes to proteins, the filling of secretion granules with product, the exocytosis model of secretion, and the signal hypothesis), and goes on to review a variety of experimental tests of the paradigm, considering these from the viewpoint of the diffusion-based theory of transport.

347 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985