Test of the nonequilibrium kinetic focusing of voltage-gated ion channels.
It has been shown numerically (Millonas and Chialvo 1996 Phys. Rev. Lett. 76 550) that voltage-gated ion channels can be focused into specific conformational states by the application of fluctuating voltages, such as dichotomous noise. We present results of an experimental test performed on Shaker K+ channels. We applied dichotomous noise with properties mimicking the numerical simulations as closely as physiologically feasible. We observed that the probability for intermediate states can be increased as much as 50% above the maximal value for any static voltages.
Kargol
Armin
A
Loyola University New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA.
Kabza
Konrad
K
D015640:Ion Channel Gating; D007700:Kinetics; D008390:Markov Chains; D051637:Shaker Superfamily of Potassium Channels / Q000737:chemistry*
D051637:Shaker Superfamily of Potassium Channels