Abstract
The plasma membrane potential of animal cells is generally thought to be generated predominantly by the diffusion of K+ out of cells (Williams, 1970), with only very minor contributions from the diffusion of other ions or from an electrogenic Na+ pump (Thomas, 1972; Lew et al., 1979). The experiments to be described show that this view is no longer universally applicable, and that plasma membrane potential of at least two cell types, — a mouse tumour cell and human neutrophils, — arises predominantly from electrogenic pumping of Na+ and, to a lesser extent, of H+. In such cells electrical and osmotic stability are preserved by the operation of anion leak and electroneutral ion transport pathways (Bashford & Pasternak, 1984, 1985a,b).
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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York
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Bashford, C.L., Pasternak, C.A. (1986). Plasma Membrane Potential of Animal Cells Generated by Ion Pumping, Not by Ion Gradients. In: Papageorgiou, G.C., Barber, J., Papa, S. (eds) Ion Interactions in Energy Transfer Biomembranes. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8410-6_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8410-6_20
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