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The sodium channel of excitable and non-excitable cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2009

R. Villegas ,
Gloria M. Villegas ,
J. M. Rodriguez-Grille  and
F. Sorais-Landaez
R. Villegas
Affiliation:
Instituto Internacional de Estudios Avanzados (IDEA), Apartado 17606, Caracas 1015A, Venezuela.
Gloria M. Villegas
Affiliation:
Instituto Internacional de Estudios Avanzados (IDEA), Apartado 17606, Caracas 1015A, Venezuela.
J. M. Rodriguez-Grille
Affiliation:
Instituto Internacional de Estudios Avanzados (IDEA), Apartado 17606, Caracas 1015A, Venezuela.
F. Sorais-Landaez
Affiliation:
Instituto Internacional de Estudios Avanzados (IDEA), Apartado 17606, Caracas 1015A, Venezuela.
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Extract

Excitation and conduction in the majority of excitable cells, as originally described in the squid axon, are initiated by a transient and highly selective increase of the membrane Na conductance, which allows this ion to move passively down its electrochemical gradient (Hodgkin & Katz, 1949; Hodgkin & Huxley, 1952). The term ‘Na channel’ was introduced to describe the mechanism involved in this conductance change (Hodgkin & Keynes, 1955).

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Type
Research Article
Information
Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , February 1988 , pp. 99 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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