In a biological membrane, the reversal potential is the membrane potential at which the direction of ionic current reverses. At the reversal potential, there is no net flow of ions from one side of the membrane to the other. For channels that are permeable to only a single type of ions, the reversal potential is identical to the equilibrium potential of the ion. The equilibrium potential for an ion is the membrane potential at which there is no net movement of the ion. The flow of any inorganic ion, such as Na+ or K+, through an ion channel (since membranes are normally impermeable to ions) is driven by the electrochemical gradient for that ion. This gradient consists of two parts, the difference in the concentration of that ion across the membrane, and the voltage gradient. When these two influences balance each other, the electrochemical gradient for the ion is zero and there is no net flow of the ion through the channel; this also translates to no current across the membrane. The voltage gradient at which this equilibrium is reached is the equilibrium potential for the ion and it can be calculated from the Nernst equation. We can consider as an example a positively charged ion, such as K+, and a negatively charged membrane, as it is commonly the case in most organisms. The membrane voltage opposes the flow of the potassium ions out of the cell and the ions can leave the interior of the cell only if they have sufficient thermal energy to overcome the energy barrier produced by the negative membrane voltage. However, this biasing effect can be overcome by an opposing concentration gradient if the interior concentration is high enough which favours the potassium ions leaving the cell. An important concept related to the equilibrium potential is the driving force. Driving force is simply defined as the difference between the actual membrane potential and an ion's equilibrium potential where refers to the equilibrium potential for a specific ion.

About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related courses (32)
PHYS-201(d): General physics: electromagnetism
The topics covered by the course are concepts of fluid mechanics, waves, and electromagnetism.
ChE-407: Electrochemical engineering
This course builds upon the underlying theory in thermodynamics, reaction kinetics, and transport and applies these methods to electrosynthesis, fuel cell, and battery applications. Special focus is p
NX-465: Computational neurosciences: neuronal dynamics
In this course we study mathematical models of neurons and neuronal networks in the context of biology and establish links to models of cognition. The focus is on brain dynamics approximated by determ
Show more
Related lectures (89)
Modeling in Neuroprosthetics
Covers hybrid neural models, nerve histology, sensory feedback restoration, and deep brain stimulation in neuroprosthetics.
Introduction to Plasma Physics
Introduces the basics of plasma physics, covering collective behavior, Debye length, and plasma conditions.
2D Potential Flows
Explores 2D potential flows in fluid dynamics, focusing on stream function and velocity potential relationships and visualization techniques.
Show more
Related publications (198)

Numerical investigation of two-dimensional Mode-II delamination in composite laminates

Thomas Keller, Anastasios Vassilopoulos, Congzhe Wang

Existing standards for delamination tests on composite materials typically employ one-dimensional (1D) beam specimens. However, such specimens may not represent real delamination scenarios in composite structures, where cracks tend to propagate in two dime ...
London2024

Densification and shaping of pure Cu-BTC powders using a solid-state chemical transformation

Wendy Lee Queen, Mathieu Soutrenon, Jordi Espin Marti, Mehrdad Asgari, Vikram Vinayak Karve, Alexandre Mabillard

MOFs are a class of porous crystalline materials whose unique properties have led to applicability in several fields ranging from gas adsorption to drug delivery. Despite their high potential, MOFs are usually found as fine powders, a property that can lim ...
Iop Publishing Ltd2024

On Artificial Intelligence and Manipulation

Marcello Ienca

The increasing diffusion of novel digital and online sociotechnical systems for arational behavioral influence based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as social media, microtargeting advertising, and personalized search algorithms, has brought about ne ...
SPRINGER2023
Show more
Related concepts (6)
Ligand-gated ion channel
Ligand-gated ion channels (LICs, LGIC), also commonly referred to as ionotropic receptors, are a group of transmembrane ion-channel proteins which open to allow ions such as Na+, K+, Ca2+, and/or Cl− to pass through the membrane in response to the binding of a chemical messenger (i.e. a ligand), such as a neurotransmitter. When a presynaptic neuron is excited, it releases a neurotransmitter from vesicles into the synaptic cleft. The neurotransmitter then binds to receptors located on the postsynaptic neuron.
Glutamate receptor
Glutamate receptors are synaptic and non synaptic receptors located primarily on the membranes of neuronal and glial cells. Glutamate (the conjugate base of glutamic acid) is abundant in the human body, but particularly in the nervous system and especially prominent in the human brain where it is the body's most prominent neurotransmitter, the brain's main excitatory neurotransmitter, and also the precursor for GABA, the brain's main inhibitory neurotransmitter.
Resting potential
A relatively static membrane potential which is usually referred to as the ground value for trans-membrane voltage. 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 membrane potential. Apart from the latter two, which occur in excitable cells (neurons, muscles, and some secretory cells in glands), membrane voltage in the majority of non-excitable cells can also undergo changes in response to environmental or intracellular stimuli.
Show more
Related MOOCs (8)
Neuronal Dynamics - Computational Neuroscience of Single Neurons
The activity of neurons in the brain and the code used by these neurons is described by mathematical neuron models at different levels of detail.
Neuronal Dynamics - Computational Neuroscience of Single Neurons
The activity of neurons in the brain and the code used by these neurons is described by mathematical neuron models at different levels of detail.
Simulation Neurocience
Learn how to digitally reconstruct a single neuron to better study the biological mechanisms of brain function, behaviour and disease.
Show more

Graph Chatbot

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.