Introduction:  Electroporation  is  a  technique  for  increasing  the  permeability  of  the  cell  membrane  to  otherwise  non-permeate  molecules  due  to  an  external  electric  field.  This  permeability  enhancement  is  detectable if the induced transmembrane voltage becomes greater than a critical value which depends on the  pulse  strength  threshold.  In  this  study,  the  variabil...

introduction:  electroporation  is  a  technique  for  increasing  the  permeability  of  the  cell  membrane  to  otherwise  non-permeate  molecules  due  to  an  external  electric  field.  this  permeability  enhancement  is  detectable if the induced transmembrane voltage becomes greater than a critical value which depends on the  pulse  strength  threshold.  in  this  study,  the  variabil...

Membrane fusion lies at the heart of neuronal communication but the detailed mechanism of a critical step, fusion pore initiation, remains poorly understood. Here, through atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, a transient pore formation induced by a close contact of two apposed bilayers is firstly reported. Such a close contact gives rise to a high local transmembrane voltage that induces t...

The transmembrane voltage induced due to applied electric field superimposes to the resting transmembrane voltage of the cell. On the part of the cell membrane, where the transmembrane voltage exceeds the threshold transmembrane voltage, changes in the membrane occur, leading to increase in membrane permeability known as electropermeabilization. This part of the cell membrane represents the per...

A major advance in understanding how quinidine depresses maximum upstroke velocity (Vmax) is the Hondeghem-Katzung mathematical model which incorporates voltage-independent rate constants for binding to and unbinding from resting, open, and inactive Na channels, and a voltage shift of -40 mV for the Hodgkin-Huxley h-kinetics of quinidine-associated Na channels. Using a double microelectrode vol...

Alternative splicing of the skeletal muscle CaV1.1 voltage-gated calcium channel gives rise to two channel variants with very different gating properties. The currents of both channels activate slowly; however, insertion of exon 29 in the adult splice variant CaV1.1a causes an ∼30-mV right shift in the voltage dependence of activation. Existing evidence suggests that the S3-S4 linker in repeat ...

Propagation of the nerve impulse relies on the extreme voltage sensitivity of Na(+) and K(+) channels. The transmembrane movement of four arginine residues, located at the fourth transmembrane segment (S4), in each of their four voltage-sensing domains is mostly responsible for the translocation of 12 to 13 e(o) across the transmembrane electric field. Inserting additional positively charged re...

ArcLight is a genetically encoded fluorescent voltage sensor using the voltage-sensing domain of the voltage-sensing phosphatase from Ciona intestinalis that gives a large but slow-responding optical signal in response to changes in membrane potential (Jin et al., 2012). Fluorescent voltage sensors using the voltage-sensing domain from other species give faster yet weaker optical signals (Baker...