What Is The Role Of The Sodium Potassium Pump – The sodium-potassium pump (also known as the Na+/K+ pump or Na+/K+-ATPase) is a protein pump found in the cell membrane of neurons (and other cells). Its main function is to transport sodium ions out of the cell and potassium ions into the cell. To understand why this is an important physiological mechanism in neurons, we first need to talk a little about the concentrations of ions inside and outside neurons and why maintaining this concentration is important for the functioning of neurons.

Ions are atoms that have either gained or lost electrons and therefore have a positive or negative charge. There are many different ions in the human body, but some specifically play an important role in the function of neurons. These include positively charged sodium ions, positively charged potassium ions, negatively charged chloride ions, and a variety of other negatively charged ions, sometimes collectively referred to as organic anions (

What Is The Role Of The Sodium Potassium Pump

These ions are distributed unequally on both sides of the cell membranes of neurons. The sodium and chloride ions are more abundant outside the cell, while the potassium ions and organic anions are more abundant inside the cell. This unequal distribution of ions leads to an uneven distribution of electrical charge across the cell membrane. In general, the inside of the neuron is more negatively charged than the outside.

What Is The Mechanism Of A Sodium Potassium Pump?

The difference in electrical charge between the inside and outside of a neuron is called the membrane potential. Although it varies, a typical resting membrane potential (the potential when the neuron is at rest and not firing) for a neuron is around -65 mV, which again suggests that the inside of the cell is more negatively charged than the outside.

One of the special properties of neurons is their ability to communicate with each other quickly and efficiently. To do this, they must not only be able to transmit signals between neurons, but also transport signals within themselves – from one end of the neuron to the other. The basis for signal transmission within neurons is a transient change in membrane potential called an action potential. During an action potential, a massive current of positively charged sodium ions flows into the cell, causing a rapid change in membrane potential. Specifically, the membrane potential approaches zero and finally – very briefly – becomes positive. This influx of positive sodium ions creates an electrical impulse called an action potential, which then travels from one end of the neuron to the other, often triggering the release of neurotransmitters.

Okay, so what does this all have to do with the sodium-potassium pump? Let’s start with the main function of the pump, which is to transport sodium ions out of the cell and potassium ions into the cell. Normally, these ions do not want to move in that particular direction because doing so would violate the laws of diffusion, which dictate that substances tend to move from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration.

The function of the sodium-potassium pump in stages. 1) ATP binds to the pump and promotes the binding of 3 sodium ions and the release of 2 potassium ions. 2) The pump is phosphorylated by ATP. 3) The pump undergoes a conformational change and releases 3 sodium ions into the extracellular fluid. 4) The pump binds two potassium ions. The cycle repeats itself.

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For example, there is already more sodium outside a cell. Therefore, due to the laws of diffusion, sodium does not tend to move to the outside of the cell as this movement would be from an area of ​​low concentration to an area of ​​high concentration. Therefore, the sodium-potassium pump must expend energy to transport sodium out of the cell (and potassium into the cell). For this purpose, the pump uses the energy of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP for short.

How the sodium-potassium pump works is not fully understood, but it is believed that the general process begins with the binding of ATP to the pump. ATP binding then promotes the binding of 3 sodium ions and the release of two previously bound potassium ions into the cell. ATP breaks down and transfers a chemical group called a phosphate group to the pump. This process, called phosphorylation, causes the pump to undergo a conformational change, or a change in its shape.

This conformational change results in the three sodium ions bound to the pump being released into the extracellular fluid, or the area outside the cell. At the same time, the pump binds 2 potassium ions. The binding of these potassium ions triggers another conformational change that returns the pump to its previous configuration and begins the cycle again.

Each pump cycle moves 3 sodium ions out of the cell and 2 potassium ions into the cell. Because more positive charge leaves the cell than enters it, there is a net loss of positive ions. This causes the resting membrane potential of the cell to become slightly more negative. However, this effect is minimal and has little influence on the cell’s overall membrane potential. More importantly, the action of the sodium-potassium pump helps sodium ions become more concentrated outside the cell and potassium ions become more concentrated inside the cell. This unequal distribution of ions, combined with other properties of the cell membrane’s permeability, creates an environment that is conducive to an action potential.

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Therefore, the sodium-potassium pump is crucial for the function of neurons. It helps maintain ion concentrations inside and outside the cell, which facilitate the ability of neurons to fire action potentials, which form the basis for electrical signaling within neurons.

Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, Hall WC, Lamantia AS, Mooney RD, Platt ML, White LE, eds. Neuroscience. 6th ed. New York. Sinauer Associates; 2018.

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Sodium And Potassium Formula

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The relatively static membrane potential of resting cells is called the resting membrane potential (or resting voltage), in contrast to the specific dynamic electrochemical phoma, which is called the action potential and graded membrane potential.

Apart from the latter two, which occur in excitable cells (neurons, muscles and some secretory cells in glands), membrane tension in the majority of non-excitable cells can also change in response to vironmtal or intracellular stimuli. The resting potential arises due to the different membrane permeabilities for potassium, sodium, calcium and chloride ions, which in turn result from the functional activity of various ion channels, ion transporters and exchangers. Conventionally, the resting membrane potential can be defined as a relatively stable basal value of transmembrane voltage in animal and plant cells.

Because membrane permeability to potassium is much higher than that to other ions, and due to the strong chemical gradient for potassium, potassium ions flow from the cytosol into the extracellular space, carrying a positive charge until their movement is balanced by the buildup of negative charge on the inner surface the membrane. Here too, the resulting membrane potential is almost always close to the potassium reversal potential due to the high relative permeability for potassium. In order for this process to take place, a concentration gradient of potassium ions must first be built up. This work is done by the ion pumps/transporters and/or exchangers and is generally powered by ATP.

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In the case of the resting membrane potential across the plasma membrane of an animal cell, potassium (and sodium) gradients are built by the Na+/K+-ATPase (sodium-potassium pump), which transports 2 potassium ions inwards and 3 sodium ions outwards at the cost of 1 ATP molecule. In other cases, for example, a membrane potential can be established by acidifying the interior of a membrane region (e.g. the proton pump generating membrane potential across synaptic vesicle membranes).

Most quantitative treatments of membrane potential, such as the derivation of the Goldman equation, assume electroneutrality; this means that there is no measurable excess charge on either side of the membrane. So although there is an electrical potential across the membrane due to charge separation, there is no actual measurable difference in the global concentration of positive and negative ions across the membrane

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