ION

CHANNELS
pathway for chargedions

STRUCTURE OF ION CHANNELS

Made of amino acid sequences

Have Conducting Pore that provides polar pathway

through nonpolar lipid membrane

Highly selective ion channels have polarized carbonyl

oxygen atoms as lining of their conducting pore that
mimics the water molecules of the surrounding
environment of the ions

Less selective ion channels have larger diameter

conducting pore that let ions and water pass through
together

SELECTIVITY

Ion channels allow only certain ions to pass

through

Some conduct only one ion, some exhibit

relative selectivity
Ex.

Allowing positively charged ions (cations) to

pass while excluding negatively charged ions
(anions).

TYPES OF GATED CHANNELS

LEAK channels
randomly alternates between open and close
position, found in nearly all cells, including the
dendrites, cell bodies, and
axons of all types of
neurons
ex. Sodium leak channels and
Potassium leak channels

LIGAND Gated Channels

Opens

and closes in response to the binding of a

ligand (chemical stimulus) like
neurotransmitters, hormones and particular ions

Located

in the dendrites of some sensory

neurons, such as pain receptors and in dendrites
and cell bodies of interneurons and motor
neurons.

MECHANICALLY gated Channels

Opens

or closes in response to mechanical

stimulation in the form of vibration, touch,
pressure, or tissue stretching

Located

at auditory receptors in the ears,

receptors that monitor stretching of internal
organs and in touch

VOLTAGE gated channel

Opens

in response to a change in membrane potential

(voltage)
Participate in the generation and conduction of action
potentials in the axons of all types of neurons

TOXINS AFFECTING ION CHANNELS

ACTIVITY

Voltage-gated sodium channel blocker tetrodotoxin

produced by bacteria

The irreversiblenicotinic acetylcholinereceptor

antagonist alpha-bungarotoxin, from the venom of snakes
in the genusBungarus(kraits)

Plant-derivedalkaloids, such asstrychnineand D

-tubocurarine, which inhibit the activation of ion channels that
are opened by the neurotransmitters glycine and acetylcholine

Large number of therapeutic drugs, including

localanesthetics,benzodiazepines, and sulfonylurea
derivatives, act directly or indirectly to modulate ion channel
activity.

RESTING MEMBRANE POTENTIAL

RESTING MEMBRANE POTENTIAL

Exist due to electrochemical difference in the

cell and outside the cell

Constant resting membrane potential is

-40mV to -90mV

Cells that exhibit membrane potentials are

said to be POLARIZED

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO RESTING

MEMBRANE POTENTIAL

Unequal distribution of ions in the ECF and

cytosol

Inability of most anions to leave the cell

Electrogenic nature of the NaK ATPases

GRADED POTENTIAL

A small deviation to resting membrane potential

that makes the membrane either more polarized
or less polarized
Occurs when a stimuli causes a mechanically
gated and ligand- gated channels to open or close
in an excitable cells plasma membrane
Hyperpolarizing

Graded Potential
Depolarizing Graded Potential

HYPERPOLARIZING GRADED
POTENTIAL

DEPOLARIZING GRADED
POTENTIAL

Decremental Conduction happens when a

graded potential dies out as they spread along
the membrane
Summation is the process in which graded
potential add together