PHYSIOLOGY 1

Lecture 11
Membrane Potentials
 Membrane Potentials

 Objectives: Student should know

– 1. The basic principals of electricity
– 2. Membrane channels
– 3. Electrical-chemical gradient
– 4. Factors that determine resting membrane
potential
– 5. Ion concentrations inside and outside cell
– 6. Ohm’s law, Nernst equation, Goldman equation
– 7. Polarity - role
 Membrane Potentials
 A. The body as a whole is electrically neutral
 B. All of the cells of body have an electrical
potential across their membrane (Voltage
difference) known as the membrane potential
 C. Membrane potentials develop because of
differing ion concentrations between the inside
and outside of the cell
Membrane Potentials
 Membrane Potentials
 Principals of electricity - Potential difference is
determined by the difference in charge
between two points
 1. Units of electrical potential are in volts (V)
or for biological system millivolts (mV) 1 V =
1000mV
 2. Voltage is always measured between two
points (Potential difference)
 Membrane Potentials
 B. Current - flow of electrical charges from one
point to another
 1. Like charges repel unlike attract
 2. Ions tend to move from areas of greater
concentration to areas of least concentration
 3. Movement of a positive ion from one side of
a membrane to the other implies a negative
charge is left behind
 Membrane Potentials
 C. Current Flow
 Ohm’s Law - I = E / R, R = resistance
 I = current flow, E = electrical potential
– 1. Cell - Aqueous solution + good conductor
(Ions and water)
– 2. Lipid membrane - A few charged groups can
not carry current - high electrical resistance -
good insulator
– 3. ECF and ICF - both have low electrical
resistance
 Membrane Potentials
 Resting Membrane Potential
– 1. By convention - ECF (outside of the cell)
is assigned a voltage of zero
– 2. Polarity of the membrane is stated in
terms of the sign of the excess charge inside
of the cell
 Membrane Ion Channels
 Types of Channels
– 1. Leak channels - Open all of the time -
slow leak of ions
 a. Sodium, potassium & chlorine

 b. Membrane 75% more permeable to

K+ than Na+
 c. Accounts for 95% of the resting

membrane potential
 Membrane Ion Channels
 2. Na+K+ATPase Pump
 a. Unequal transport of positive ions
makes the ICF more negative than it
would be from diffusion alone - 2 K+
inside and 3 Na+ to outside
 b. Electrogenic pump
 c. Accounts for 5% of resting membrane
potential
 Membrane Potentials
Ion Gradients
 The ion gradients have two forms.
– 1. Chemical Concentration Gradient
– 2. Electrical concentration gradient
– (Charge buildup and charge
differential)
– Together these form what is known as
the electrochemical gradient
Resting Membrane Potential
 1. In all cells a potential difference across the
membrane exists
– a. Inside is negative (Na+K+ATPase)
– b. Membrane potentials usually within -40 to -90
mv
 2. A cell with a resting membrane potential is
said to be polarized
 3. Both the inside and the outside of the cell
are electrically neutral
 Resting Membrane Potential
 B. Factors that determine the resting
membrane potential
– Selective permeability of the of the plasma
membrane
– Leak channels
– Na+K+ATPase pump
– Differences in ion concentrations
Membrane Potentials
IONS INSIDE OUTSIDE

Na+ 14 140

K+ 140 4

Cl- 4 108
Resting Membrane Potential
 2. Many substances are in the cell but
the mobile ions Na+, K+, Ca++ and Cl-
play the most important roles
 3. ECF - Cl- helps to balance Na+
 ICF - Proteins (Neg charge) balance
K+
 Resting Membrane Potential
 4. Selective membrane permeability
– a. At rest - Slightly permeable to Na+, 75
times more permeable to K+, and freely
permeable to Cl-
– b. K+ moves down it’s concentration
gradient more easily & faster than Na+
– c. Movement of a K+ out leaves a negative
charge behind
 Resting Membrane Potential
 d. Why no equilibrium?
– Na+K+ATPase pump - stabilizes resting
membrane potential by maintaining diffusion
gradients for Na+ and K+
– Concentration gradient – Limit to ability of
Na+K+ATPase pump
 c. Cl- Movement out = movement in - no
contribution to membrane potential
 Equilibrium Potential
 Equilibrium potential or electrochemical
potential at which ion movements in both
directions across the membrane are
exactly balanced (net movement = zero)
 1. Ion flux = 0 implies no net ion movement
 2. The value of the equilibrium potential
(Nernst potential) for any ion depends on the
concentration gradient across the membrane
for that ion
 Equilibrium Potential
 4. The greater the concentration gradient the
greater the equilibrium potential
 5. The equilibrium potential for one ion can be
different in magnitude and direction from those
of other ions
 6. Given the ion concentration gradient the
Nernst potential for any ion can be calculated.
The Nernst equation is used to determine the
electrochemical potential for any ion across the
biological membrane.
 Equilibrium Potential
 Nernst Equation

 E(x) = RT/ZF log [x]inside/[x]outside

 R = Gas constant
 T = Temp. degrees Kelvin
 Z = Charge on ion (Valance)
 F = Faraday’s constant
 Membrane Potentials
Nernst’s Equation
 A more useful form of the Nernst’s equation is -

 E(x) = -61mV log [X]inside / [X]outside

 or
 = 61 mV log [X]outside / [X]inside
 Membrane Potentials
Nernst’s Equation - Examples
 Example 1 - Calculate the
electrochemical potential for Na+

 E Na+ = -61mV log [14]/[140]

 log of 0.10 = -1
 then
 E Na+ = 61 mV
 Membrane Potentials
Nernst’s Equation - Examples
 Example 2 - Calculate the
electrochemical potential for K+

 E K+ = -61mV log [140]/[4]

 log of 35 = 1.5441
 then
 E K+ = - 94 mV
 Membrane Potentials
Nernst Equation - Examples
 Membrane Potentials
Resting Membrane Potential
 In reality a living cell contains a great
number of ionic species. Most of these
can and do move in and out of the cell
others such as proteins can not without
help. The net movement of all ionic
currents across the membrane
determines the resting membrane
potential.
 Membrane Potentials
Resting Membrane Potential
 The net current flow ( I ) across the
membrane is given by;

 I(x) = g(x) {Em - E(x)}

 Where - g(x) is ion conductance


Em is resting membrane Pot.

E(x) is the Nernst’s Pot.
 Membrane Potentials
Resting Membrane Potential
 At rest the membrane potential is not
changing, then the sum of all currents
must equal zero.
 Thus
 I Na+ + I K+ + I Cl- + … = 0
 Membrane Potentials
Resting Membrane Potential
 Therefore
 g Na+[Em -ENa+] + g K+[Em - EK+] +
g Cl-[Em - ECl-] + … = 0
 Membrane Potentials
Resting Membrane Potential
 Solving for Em yields the Goldman
equation which gives the resting
membrane potential
 Membrane Potentials
Resting Membrane Potential
 Goldman Equation
 Em = [gNa+/(gNa+ + gK+ + gCl- )] E Na+
 + [gK+/(gNa+ + gK+ + gCl- )] E K+
 + [gCl-/(gNa+ + gK+ + gCl- )] E Cl-
 +…
 Thus the resting membrane potential is a
summation of all of the ion potentials times
their percentage of the total ion conductance
 Membrane Potentials
Resting Membrane Potential
 Since K+ conductance is almost 75 times that
of Na+. The resting membrane potential is
much closer to the Nernst’s potential for K+
than it is to the Nernst’s potential for Na+.
 Why would K+ conductance predominate?
 Excitable Cells
 A. Nerve and muscle cells are excitable (Em <
-40 mV)
– 1. Electrochemical impulses are transient
and rapid changes in Em
– 2. Two forms of electrochemical impulses
 B. Electrochemical signals
– 1. Graded potentials - short distance
– 2. Action potentials - long distance