A Theory for the Membrane Potential of Living Cells

Physics – Biological Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

22 pages and 3 figures

Scientific paper

We give an explicit formula for the membrane potential of cells in terms of the intracellular and extracellular ionic concentrations, and derive equations for the ionic currents that flow through channels, exchangers and electrogenic pumps. We demonstrate that the work done by the pumps equals the change in potential energy of the cell, plus the energy lost in downhill ionic fluxes through the channels and exchangers. The theory is illustrated in a simple model of spontaneously active cells in the cardiac pacemaker. The model predicts the experimentally observed intracellular ionic concentration of potassium, calcium, and sodium. Likewise the shapes of the simulated action potential and five membrane currents are in good agreement with experiments. We do not see any drift in the values of the concentrations in a long time simulation, and we obtain the same asymptotic values when starting from the full equilibrium situation with equal intracellular and extracellular ionic concentrations.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

A Theory for the Membrane Potential of Living Cells does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with A Theory for the Membrane Potential of Living Cells, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Theory for the Membrane Potential of Living Cells will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-576379

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.