Channels active in the excitability of nerves and skeletal muscles across the neuromuscular junction: basic function and pathophysiology.
Ion channels are essential for the basic physiological function of excitable cells such as nerve, skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle cells. Mutations in genes that encode ion channels have been identified to cause various diseases and disorders known as channelopathies. An understanding of how individual ion channels are involved in the activation of motoneurons and their corresponding muscle cells is essential for interpreting basic neurophysiology in nerves, the heart, and skeletal and smooth muscle. This review article is intended to clarify how channels work in nerves, neuromuscular junctions, and muscle function and what happens when these channels are defective. Highlighting the human diseases that result from defective ion channels is likely to be interesting to students in helping them choose to learn about channel physiology.
Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069, USA. barb.goodman@usd.edu
Barbara E
BE
Goodman
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D053447:Channelopathies / Q000503:physiopathology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008305:Malignant Hyperthermia / Q000503:physiopathology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D024642:Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D011487:Protein Conformation; D015222:Sodium Channels / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology
D015220:Calcium Channels; D007473:Ion Channels; D024642:Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated; D015222:Sodium Channels