Stirring up controversy with a voltage sensor paddle.
Neurons owe their exquisite electrical excitability to voltage-gated ion channels. By creating and shaping the action potential, these voltage-sensitive proteins supply the neuron with crucial communication skills. A steady stream of experimental results, arising from numerous laboratories and employing a diverse repertoire of techniques, has produced a consensus model of the way voltage-gated ion channels sense and respond to changes in membrane potential. In contrast to this consensus mechanism, recent studies of the voltage-gated K(+) channel KvAP suggest a strikingly different mode of action. In this review, these disparate models are compared and critically discussed.
Ahern
Christopher A
CA
Department of Physiology, Institute of Hyperexcitability, Jefferson Medical College, 1020 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.
Horn
Richard
R
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D015640:Ion Channel Gating / Q000502:physiology*; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D024642:Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D011487:Protein Conformation
D007473:Ion Channels; D024642:Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated