Relating microscopic charge movement to macroscopic currents: the Ramo-Shockley theorem applied to ion channels.
Since the discovery of gating current, electrophysiologists have studied the movement of charged groups within channel proteins by changing potential and measuring the resulting capacitive current. The relation of atomic-scale movements of charged groups to the gating current measured in an external circuit, however, is not obvious. We report here that a general solution to this problem exists in the form of the Ramo-Shockley theorem. For systems with different amounts of atomic detail, we use the theorem to calculate the gating charge produced by movements of protein charges. Even without calculation or simulation, the Ramo-Shockley theorem eliminates a class of interpretations of experimental results. The theorem may also be used at each time step of simulations to compute external current.
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, 33101-6430, USA. wnonner@chroma.med.miami.edu
Wolfgang
W
Nonner
Alexander
A
Peyser
Dirk
D
Gillespie
Bob
B
Eisenberg
D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D025802:Electric Capacitance; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D015640:Ion Channel Gating / Q000502:physiology*; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D008956:Models, Chemical; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D055672:Static Electricity
D007473:Ion Channels