Sunday, January 31, 2010

A video explaining the generation of a neuron's resting potential

2 comments:

Sherry said...

This video explains the resting potential in terms of potassium ions' movements across the membrane. We should assume the same movements (but with opposite direction) from the sodium ions, right?

Akshay Anantapadmanabhan said...

Yea, the sodium ions would be moving into the membrane at a higher rate than potassium ions flowing out, but that is only during the rise of the action potential. Since this video focuses on the membrane reaching the resting potential, there is no focus on the soidum ions, because they are not flowing in at a significant rate anymore (since the membrane resting potential is generally negative).