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Molecular biology of the voltage-gated sodium channel |
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| Authors: | Lawrence Salkoff Alice Butler Aguan Wei Nancy Scavarda Keith Baker David Pauron Cynthia Smith |
| Affiliation: | 1 Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology and the Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid, St Louis, MO 63110, USA 2 Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid, St Louis, MO 63110, USA |
| Abstract: | The integral membrane protein composing the voltage-sensitive sodium channel is a bagel-like structure (Fig. 1) with a central pore that is highly selective for sodium ions. When the electric field across a cell's membrane becomes depolarized, the pore of the channel opens to allow sodium ions to flow down their electrochemical gradient into the cell1. Voltage-gating, a common feature of all voltage-activated channels, is an essential functional property that is only now being understood in terms of the structural features of the protein. |
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