Advances in Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry

By analysis of their specialized characteristics, electrophysiology relates the activity of excitable cells to the general physiology of cellular processes. In fact, electrophysiological techniques and concepts make a very important contribution to the study of that elusive yet nevertheless all-important and complex structure, the cell membrane. Appropriation of the data from general physiology and their elaboration, in terms of evolutionary and ecological concepts as adaptations to various functional specifications, are the commonly recognized vectors of comparative physiology. The study of bioelectric activity, however, makes the reciprocity of the symbiosis particularly clear. Comparative electrophysiology has provided general physiology with new information on the fundamental mechanisms of bioelectricity.