Do sodium channels in biological membranes undergo ferroelectric-superionic transitions?

Author

Leuchtag, H. Richard

Author_Institution

Dept. of Biol., Texas Southern Univ., Houston, TX, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

6-8 Jun 1990

Firstpage

279

Lastpage

283

Abstract

It is proposed that the sodium channels present in nerve and muscle membranes are ferroelectric in the resting state of the membrane. A threshold depolarization induces a phase transition of these glycoprotein macromolecules to a superionic phase, in which the conductance for sodium ions is high. This hypothesis explains the origin of the transient inward current and other channel properties and provides an approach to microscopic structure-function relationships

Keywords

biomembrane transport; dielectric depolarisation; ferroelectric transitions; molecular biophysics; proteins; sodium; superionic conducting materials; Na; Na ion conductance; channel properties; ferroelectric Na channels; glycoprotein macromolecules; microscopic structure-function relationships; muscle membranes; nerve; phase transition; resting state; superionic phase; threshold depolarization; transient inward current; Animal structures; Biomembranes; Conducting materials; Evolution (biology); Ferroelectric materials; Microscopy; Muscles; Nerve fibers; Organisms; Tail;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Applications of Ferroelectrics, 1990., IEEE 7th International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Urbana-Champaign, IL

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0190-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISAF.1990.200241

Filename

200241