Sodium channels are integral membrane proteins that form ion channels, conducting sodium ions (Na+) through a cell`s plasma membrane. They are classified according to the trigger that opens the channel for such ions, i.e. either a voltage-change (`Voltage-gated`, `voltage-sensitive`, or `voltage-dependent` sodium channel also called `VGSCs...
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(from the article `nervous system`) Voltage-sensitive sodium channels have been characterized with respect to their subunit structure and their amino acid sequences. The principal ...
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http://www.britannica.com/eb/a-z/s/119
<neurology, physiology> The protein responsible for electrical excitability of neurons. A transmembrane ion channel, containing an aqueous pore around 0.4nm diameter, with a negatively charged region internally (the selectivity filter) to block passage of anions. ... The channel is voltage gated: it opens in response to a small depolarisation...
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a type of fast channel selective for the passage of sodium ions. Voltage-gated sodium channels are the main causes of depolarization and repolarization of nerve membranes during the action potential. In cardiac cells they produce phase 0 of the action potential.
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(= sodium gate) The protein responsible for electrical excitability of neurons. A multi-subunit transmembrane ion channel, containing an aqueous pore around 0.4nm diameter, with a negatively charged region internally (the 'selectivity filter') to block passage of anions. The channel is voltage-gated: it opens in response to a small depolarization of the cell (usually caused by an approaching action potential), by a multistep process. Around 1000 sodium ions pass in the next millisecond, before the channel spontaneously closes (an event with single-step kinetics). The channel is then refractory to further depolarizations until returned to near the resting potential. There are around 100 channels per m m2 in unmyelinated axons; in myelinated axons, they are concentrated at the nodes of Ranvier. The sodium channel is the target of many of the deadliest neurotoxins.
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