13. Ion channels are also sub-classified by their mechanism of
gating:
Voltage dependent, ligand-dependent, and mechano-
sensitive gating.
• Voltage-gated ion channels change their conductance in
response to variations in membrane potential.
• Voltagedependent gating is the commonest mechanism of
gating observed in ion channels.
• A majority of ion channels open in response to
depolarization.
• The pacemaker current channel (If channel) opens in
response to membrane hyperpolarization.
• The steepness of the voltage dependence of opening or
activation varies between channels.
14. Ion channels have 2 mechanism of closure.
• Certain channels like the Na+ and Ca2+ channels enters a
closed inactivated state during maintained depolarization.
• To regain their ability to open, the channel must undergo a
recovery process at hyperpolarized potentials.
• The inactivated state may also be accessed from the closed
state.
• Inactivation is the basis for refractoriness in cardiac muscle
and is fundamental for the prevention of premature re-
excitation.
• If the membrane potential is abruptly returned to its
hyperpolarized (resting) value while the channel is open, it
closes by deactivation, a reversal of the normal activation
process.
15. Ligand-dependent gating is the second major gating mechanism of cardiac
ion channels.
• The most thoroughly studied channel of this class is the acetylcholine
(Ach)-activated K channel.
• Acetylcholine binds to the M-2 muscarinic receptor and activates a G
protein–signaling pathway, culminating in the release of the subunits Gαi
and Gβγ.
• The Gβγ subunit activates an inward-rectifying K channel, IKAch that
abbreviates the action potential and decreases the slope of diastolic
depolarization in pacemaker cells.
• IKAch channels are most abundant in the atria and the SA and
atrioventricular nodes.
• IKAch activation is a part of the mechanism of the vagal control of the heart.
• The ATP-sensitive K+ channel, also termed the ADP-activated K+ channel, is
a ligand-gated channel distributed abundantly in all regions of the heart
Editor's Notes
The Cardiac Action Potential
The normal sequence and synchronous contraction of the atria and ventricles require the rapid activation of groups of cardiac cells. An activation mechanism must enable rapid changes in heart rate and also respond to the changes in autonomic tone. The propagating cardiac action potential fulfils these roles.
Phase 4, or the resting potential, is stable at 90 Mv in normal working myocardial cells.
2. Phase 0 is the phase of rapid depolarization. The membrane potential shifts into positive voltage range. This phase is central to rapid propagation of the cardiac impulse (conduction velocity, 1 m/s).
3. Phase 1 is a phase of rapid repolarization. This phase sets the potential for the next phase of the action potential.
4. Phase 2, a plateau phase, is the longest phase. It is unique among excitable cells and marks the phase of calcium entry into the cell.
5. Phase 3 is the phase of rapid repolarization that restores the membrane potential to its resting value.
Ion channels are pore-forming membrane proteins whose function is establishing a resting membrane potential, shaping action potentials and other
electrical signals by gating the flow of ions across the cell membrane, controlling the flow of ions across membranes, and regulating cell volume.
They are often described as narrow, water-filled tunnels that accept only specific type of ions. This characteristic is called selective permeability.
Ion channels are integral membrane proteins, formed as assemblies of several proteins.
Such "multi-subunit" assemblies usually make a circular arrangement of identical or homologous proteins closely packed around a water-filled pore through the plane of the lipid bilayer membrane.
Ion channels are different from other transporter
proteins:
The rate of ion transport through the channel is
very high (often 106 ions per second or above).
Ions pass through channels down their
electrochemical gradient, which is a function of ion
concentration and membrane potential,
"downhill", without the input of metabolic energy (e.g. Adenosine triphosphate, active transport mechanisms, co-transport mechanisms).
Phase 2 (plateau) represents a balance between the depolarizing Ltype inward Ca2+ current (ICa,L) and the repolarizing ultra-rapidly (IKur), rapidly (IKr), and slowly (IKs) activating delayed outward rectifying currents.