Though the cell membrane is a protective barrier, it also plays a role in letting some foreign material in — via ion channels that dot the cell’s surface. Now new research from the Nobel Prize ...

Pore-forming proteins in living cells, termed ion channels, are embedded in the outer membrane of almost all cell types and play a crucial role in the body's various communication systems. Blood, ...

Then, when conditions are right, specialized channels in the plasma membrane open and allow rapid ion movement into or out of the cell, and this movement creates an electrical signal. But what do ...

Embedded in the plasma membrane are mechanosensitive ion channels or tunnels that release ions in a response to membrane stretch. Mechanosensitive ion channel 10 (MSL10) is one member of the ...

Ion selectivity is an important property of cell membrane ion channels. For example, potassium ion channels are more permeable to potassium ions than to sodium ions. The mechanism underlying the ...

Harpreet Singh, professor of physiology and cell biology ... last hundred years that ion channels are really, really important to maintain any structure which has a membrane," Singh said.

Voltage-Gated Ion Channels Voltage-gated channels respond to perturbations in cell membrane potential, and are highly selective for a specific ion, i.e., Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Cl-. They are further ...

Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon were awarded the 2003 prize in chemistry for discovering and elucidating the structure of water and ion channels in the cell membrane, work that may one day aid in ...

They are literally channels for communication: Pore-forming proteins in living cells, termed ion channels, are embedded in the outer membrane of almost all cell types and play a crucial role in ...

In this review, we describe the major types of ion channels in PCa epithelial ... an important role in the control of PCa cells growth by regulating membrane potential and passive calcium influxes.

Courtesy of Cellectricon The beating of a heart, the ability to learn and remember, and the movement of a sperm cell's tail all have at least one thing in common: They depend on the function of ion ...

Stephen Tucker: Ion channels are literally holes in the cell membrane, and they allow electrically charged particles ('ions') to move from one side of the cell membrane to the other. This is the ...