The Physiology of Excitable Cells

by David J. Aidley

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521574218

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Book Description

Excitable cells include nerve, sensory and muscle cells and they are studied by students of physiology, neuroscience, cell biology and biophysics. The text is well known among students and researchers for its thoroughness and clarity. Fundamental concepts are explained and key experiments are examined in some detail. The revised and restructured new edition takes account of recent advances in molecular biology, with 900 new references to bring the coverage up to date, but retains the same essential philosophy as previous editions.

Book Reviews

"...surely the best currently available text on excitable cells..." Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology

"I enjoyed this book immensely and believe that it can be used comfortably by students, as a reference for experts, and as a tool for the interested nonexpert investigator." Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology

"...it is indeed remarkable that a single author can now review current knowledge of so wide a field in the detail Aidley does here." Nerve and Muscle

"This fourth edition, as we might expect, emphasizes molecular techniques and includes much new material. Our knowledge continues to develop concerning the physiology of nerves, muscles, and sensory cells, and this book is an excellent survey of the field." Molecular Reproduction and Development

Customer Reviews

David Aidley's 4th edition text is superb for the graduate student in experimental cellular neurophysiology. This text does not cover neuroanatomy or systems neurophysiology. That is probably a weakness for those students hoping to have a comprehensive review book such as Principles of Neural Science by Kandel & Schwartz. Strengths of the book include discussion of Hodgkin-Huxley equations, ion channel kinetics equations, entropy equations, pearls of wisdom related to different aquatic species, etc. LTP and LTD are covered well. Receptor physiology is discussed better in this book than any other with the exception of Handbook of Physiology Receptors Springer by Lowenstein. Cortical neurophysiology is weak here. If you had to choose between this book and other cellular neurophysiology books, you cannot go wrong with this one. Cellular Biophysics: Electrical Phenomenon by Weiss and Foundations of Cellular Neurophysiology by Wu & Johnston are two others to look at that are more complex than Aidley's book. It is a shame that David Aidley died in 2001 so that a 5th edition of this outstanding textbook will not be available.

As part of my degree I study neuromuscular physiology and this is the recomended text.It has well layed out chapters with each unit taking a major topic in electrophysiology. It starts with the extreme basic but this gives you the instant reminder of all that you've learned and the basis of electrophysiology. The chapters are layed out in the topics generally study at university, though it goes into more detail. The graphs that accompany many of the topics were found very useful for comparison for practical experiments. This text is helpful and detailed, and useful for study.

The principal aspects of eletrophysiology is commented in this book. It is very good for begginers on this facinating topic.