These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed


  • Title: An approach to the current-voltage characteristics of nerve membranes based on adsorption phenomena.
    Author: Amin M.
    Journal: Biophys J; 1974 Jan; 14(1):1-7. PubMed ID: 4811816.
    Abstract:
    Using Stern's double-layer adsorption model for the density of cations in the membrane pores, a quantitative approach to the stationary current-voltage characteristic of nerve membranes is developed. The interaction of mobile cations with the negative fixed charges, located inside the membrane, constitutes a resistance for the current through the membrane. The stepwise increase in the resistance for the hyperpolarization is ascribed to a stronger interaction accompanying a depletion of the adsorbed cations from the interior. Thermodynamic treatment of flows and forces is adapted to the situation, to give a current voltage relation amenable to experimental check. The value of the resting potential thus obtained gives a deviation from Nernst equation applied to the ion for which the membrane is mainly permeable. The effect of the membrane double-layer potential on the potential range in which the transition from low to high resistance takes place, is explicitly incorporated. Finally, a comparison of the theory with the experimental results for the squid axon and frog nerve fibers is made.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]