[All-or-none behaviour and bistability in a simple cell model with autocatalysis of type A+2B = 3B (author's transl)]

Nonlinear kinetics in a chemical cell model involving only one substrate (A) and one product (B), two reactions (A yields B and A + 2B yields OB), and passive diffusion of A and B through the cell wall, can exhibit complex behaviour including oscillations, bistability (switching) and spiking. One such system is presented, which shows three kinds of response as depending on the quantity of a stimulus--a sudden imput of product B: i. no response; ii, spiking; iii, switching into an alternative steady state--i.e. an "all-or flip-or-none" response.