What causes ion channel proteins to fluctuate open and closed?

Ion channels in the cell membrane spontaneously switch from states that are closed to the flow of ions such as sodium, potassium, and chloride to states that are open to the flow of these ions. The durations of times that an individual ion channel protein spends in the closed and open states can be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of neural systems Vol. 7; no. 4; p. 321
Main Authors Liebovitch, L S, Todorov, A T
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Singapore 01.09.1996
Subjects
Animals
Ion Channels - metabolism
Markov Chains
Membrane Proteins - chemistry
Motion
Patch-Clamp Techniques
Protein Conformation
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Summary:Ion channels in the cell membrane spontaneously switch from states that are closed to the flow of ions such as sodium, potassium, and chloride to states that are open to the flow of these ions. The durations of times that an individual ion channel protein spends in the closed and open states can be measured by the patch clamp technique. We explore two basic issues about the molecular properties of ion channels: 1) If the switching between the closed and open state is an inherently random event, what does the patch clamp data tell us about the structure or motions in the ion channel protein? 2) Is this switching random?
ISSN:0129-0657
DOI:10.1142/S0129065796000282