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Basic Mechanisms of Voltage Sensing
Book chapter

Basic Mechanisms of Voltage Sensing

Sandipan Chowdhury and Baron Chanda
Handbook of Ion Channels, pp.45-60
CRC Press
2015
DOI: 10.1201/b18027-9

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Abstract

Since the early pioneering studies by Bernstein, Cole, Hodgkin, Huxley, and others, voltage-sensitive conductances have been extensively studied because of their primary role in electrical excitability in nerves and muscles (2-11). Voltagedependent K+, Na+, and Ca++ channels are responsible for generation of an action potential, which is the elementary unit of electrical signals in biology. Calcium inux through calcium channels can also act as a second messenger, which initiates various processes such as muscle contraction (12,13). Isoforms of voltage-dependent potassium channels are involved in diverse physiological processes, which include volume regulation, secretion, proliferation, and migration.

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