Changes in membrane voltage brought about by ion fluxes through voltage and transmitter-gated channels represent the basis of neural activity. As such, electrochemical gradients across the membrane determine the direction and driving force for the flow of ions and are therefore crucial in setting the properties of synaptic transmission and signal propagation. Ion concentration gradients are est...

Abstract The optoelectronic properties of semiconductor nanoparticles make them valuable candidates for the long-term monitoring transmembrane electric fields in excitable cells. In this work, we show that field sensitivity fluorescence intensity type-I and quasi-type-II quantum dots rods is enhanced under two-photon excitation compared to single-photon excitation. Based on superior excited flu...

Voltage-gated potassium ion (Kv) channel proteins respond to changes in membrane potential by changing the probability of K+ flux through an ion-selective pore. Kv channels from different paralogous and orthologous families have widely varying V50 values. The voltage-sensing transmembrane helices (S4) of different channels contain four to seven basic residues that are responsible for transducin...

Current-voltage curves for DIDS-insensitive Cl- conductance have been determined in human red blood cells from five donors. Currents were estimated from the rate of cell shrinkage using flow cytometry and differential laser light scattering. Membrane potentials were estimated from the extracellular pH of unbuffered suspensions using the proton ionophore FCCP. The width of the Gaussian distribut...

We present in this work a structural model of the open IKCa (KCa3.1) channel derived by homology modeling from the MthK channel structure, and used this model to compute the transmembrane potential profile along the channel pore. This analysis showed that the selectivity filter and the region extending from the channel inner cavity to the internal medium should respectively account for 81% and ...

In order to understand the electrochemical behavior of a living cell at a low extracellular potassium concentration, a model is constructed. The model involves only the ATP driven sodium-potassium pump, and the sodium and potassium channels. Predictions of the model fit the N-shape of the current-voltage characteristic at low extracellular potassium. The model can, furthermore, quantitatively a...

oily wastewaters from oil refineries and oil distribution centers are one of the most important environmental concerns in recent decades; therefore, it is critical to treat these types of wastewaters. in this study, the performance of different polyethersulfone hollow fiber membranes in oily wastewaters treatment was investigated and the effects of operating conditions such as transmembrane pre...

The BK-type Ca 2+-activated K + channel has been the subject of increasingly detailed mechanistic study since the fi rst recordings of this channel were obtained more than 25 years ago (Pallotta et al., 1981 ; Latorre et al., 1982 ; Magleby, 2003 ; and references therein). But if you thought that our understanding of the gating of the BK channel and its allosteric regulation by Ca 2+ and trans-...