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  2. Potassium in biology - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_in_biology

    Potassium is the major cation (K +, a positive ion) inside animal cells, while sodium (Na +) is the major cation outside animal cells.The difference between the concentrations of these charged particles causes a difference in electric potential between the inside and outside of cells, known as the membrane potential.

  3. Active transport - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_transport

    Active transport is essential for various physiological processes, such as nutrient uptake, hormone secretion, and nerve impulse transmission. For example, the sodium-potassium pump uses ATP to pump sodium ions out of the cell and potassium ions into the cell, maintaining a concentration gradient essential for cellular function. Active ...

  4. Sodium–potassium pump - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium–potassium_pump

    The sodium–potassium pump (sodium–potassium adenosine triphosphatase, also known as Na + /K +-ATPase, Na + /K + pump, or sodium–potassium ATPase) is an enzyme (an electrogenic transmembrane ATPase) found in the membrane of all animal cells. It performs several functions in cell physiology. The Na + /K +-ATPase enzyme is active (i.e. it ...

  5. Membrane potential - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membrane_potential

    The ion pump most relevant to the action potential is the sodium–potassium pump, which transports three sodium ions out of the cell and two potassium ions in. [13] [14] As a consequence, the concentration of potassium ions K + inside the neuron is roughly 30-fold larger than the outside concentration, whereas the sodium concentration outside ...

  6. Action potential - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_potential

    Since Na + ions are in higher concentrations outside of the cell, the concentration and voltage differences both drive them into the cell when Na + channels open. Depolarization opens both the sodium and potassium channels in the membrane, allowing the ions to flow into and out of the axon, respectively.

  7. Potassium - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium

    Due to the electrostatic and chemical properties, K + ions are larger than Na + ions, and ion channels and pumps in cell membranes can differentiate between the two ions, actively pumping or passively passing one of the two ions while blocking the other. [90] hormone secretion and action; vascular tone; systemic blood pressure control

  8. Resting potential - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resting_potential

    The Na + /K +-ATPase, as well as effects of diffusion of the involved ions, are major mechanisms to maintain the resting potential across the membranes of animal cells.. The relatively static membrane potential of quiescent cells is called the resting membrane potential (or resting voltage), as opposed to the specific dynamic electrochemical phenomena called action potential and graded ...

  9. Potassium channel - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_channel

    The distance between the carbonyl oxygens and potassium ions in the binding sites of the selectivity filter is the same as between water oxygens in the first hydration shell and a potassium ion in water solution, providing an energetically-favorable route for de-solvation of the ions. Sodium ions, however, are too small to fill the space ...