Built for speed

Many of us were taught in high school biology that the action potential waveform in nerves and other excitable tissues was generated by an initial rapid influx of external Na(+) ions across the plasma membrane, followed by an outward movement of intracellular K(+) ions. The former event, mediated by voltage-gated Na(+) channels, is responsible for the fast depolarizing upstroke of the action potential, while voltage-gated K+ channels are responsible for the subsequent repolarizing phase, which largely controls action potential duration. Although Hodgkin and Huxley described the fundamental importance of this sequential activation process more than 60 y ago, the molecular and structural details underlying the faster activation of voltage-gated Na(+) (Nav) vs. K(+) (Kv) channels have yet to be fully resolved.