Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Electrochemical energy is one of the many interchangeable forms of potential energy through which energy may be conserved. It appears in electroanalytical chemistry and has industrial applications such as batteries and fuel cells. In biology, electrochemical gradients allow cells to control the direction ions move across membranes.
Chemiosmosis is the movement of ions across a semipermeable membrane bound structure, down their electrochemical gradient.An important example is the formation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the movement of hydrogen ions (H +) across a membrane during cellular respiration or photosynthesis.
Neurotransmitters are initially stored and synthesized in vesicles at the synapse of a neuron. When an action potential occurs in a cell, the electrical signal reaches the presynaptic terminal and the depolarization causes calcium channels to open, releasing calcium to travel down its electrochemical gradient.
The combined transmembrane gradient of protons and charges created by proton pumps is called an electrochemical gradient. An electrochemical gradient represents a store of energy (potential energy) that can be used to drive a multitude of biological processes such as ATP synthesis, nutrient uptake and action potential formation. [citation needed]
Voltage-gated ion channels are generally composed of several subunits arranged in such a way that there is a central pore through which ions can travel down their electrochemical gradients. The channels tend to be ion-specific, although similarly sized and charged ions may sometimes travel through them.
The free energy released when a higher-energy electron donor and acceptor convert to lower-energy products, while electrons are transferred from a lower to a higher redox potential, is used by the complexes in the electron transport chain to create an electrochemical gradient of ions. It is this electrochemical gradient that drives the ...
An electrochemical gradient or concentration gradient is a difference in concentration of a chemical molecule or ion in two separate areas. [6] At equilibrium the concentrations of the ion in both areas will be equal, so if there is a difference in concentration the ions will seek to flow "down" the concentration gradient or from a high ...
Ions pass through channels down their electrochemical gradient, which is a function of ion concentration and membrane potential, "downhill", without the input (or help) of metabolic energy (e.g. ATP, co-transport mechanisms, or active transport mechanisms).