IUBio

question on ACTION POTENTIALS!

Sturla Molden stumol at stud.ntnu.no
Mon Jan 18 12:34:00 EST 1999


Bill Skaggs <bill at darwin.bns.pitt.edu> wrote:

: 4) Other types of cells have action potentials that do involve K+
: channels.  Their function is to bring the membrane back to rest more
: quickly.  They stay open for a little while after the Na+ channels
: have all closed; that's the cause of the hyperpolarization.

: 6) Ca++ has many functions inside the cell, and many action potentials
: do cause an inflow of CA++ through voltage-dependent Ca++ channels,
: but, as I said, this probably doesn't contribute much to the action
: potential at the soma in most cases.  Concerning what happens in the
: dendrites, the story might be different; this is currently a subject
: of very active research.


If I am not mistaken, Ca2++ dependent potassium channels
make a contribution to the hyperpolarization phase of the
action potential.

Sturla Molden



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