PHYSIOLOGY

CHAPTER 5: MEMBRANE POTENTIALS AND ACTION POTENTIALS

1ST SEMESTER (2022-2023)

OUTLINE
Basic Physics of Membrane Potential
Resting Membrane Potential of Neurons
Neuron Action Potential
Propagation of Action Potential
Re-establishing Sodium and Potassium Ionic Gradients
Plateau in some Action Potentials
Rhythmicity of some Excitable Tissue
Characteristics of Signal Transmission
Excitation

Basic Physics of Membrane Potentials

 Diffusion potential – the diffusion potential
between the inside and outside of the cell
 Nernst potential – the diffusion potential across a
membrane that exactly opposes the net diffusion of
a particular ion through the membrane
 Goldman equation – used to calculate the diffusion
potential when the membrane is permeable to
several different ions; key points from the
Figure 1. Establishment of an RMP A) Potassium Diffusion alone B) Diffusion of Potassium and
Goldman equation: Sodium C) Diffusion of Potassium and Sodium plus Pumping of these ions by Na-K pump
o Sodium, potassium and chloride ions are
the most important ions involved in the  The resting membrane potential of a neuron is
development of membrane potentials about -70 millivolts
o Quantitative importance of each of these
Neuron Action Potential
ions in determining the voltage is
proportional to the membrane permeability  Action potential – rapid changes in the membrane
for that particular ion potential that spread rapidly along the nerve fiber
o A positive ion concentration gradient from membrane
inside the membrane to the outside causes
electronegativity inside the membrane
o The permeability of the sodium and
potassium channels undergoes rapid
changes during transmission of a nerve
impulse

Resting Membrane Potential of Neurons

 Describes the potential difference across the
membrane of excitable cells in between action
potentials

Figure 2. Changes in Membrane Potential

 Successive stages of the action potential:

o Resting Stage – is the resting membrane
potential before the action potential begins
o Depolarization Stage – the membrane
suddenly becomes permeable to sodium
ions, allowing rapid diffusion of positively
charges sodium ions into the interior of the
axon
o Repolarization Stage – the rapid diffusion
of potassium ions to the exterior re-
establishes the normal negative resting
membrane potential
 The necessary factor in causing both
depolarization and repolarization of the nerve
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membrane during the action potential is the but it does not travel at all if conditions are not
voltage-gated sodium channel right

Re-establishing Sodium and Potassium Gradients

 Sodium ions that have diffused to the interior of
the cell during action potential and potassium ions
that have diffused to the exterior returns to their
original state by the action of the Na-K pump; this
pump requires energy for operation

Plateau in some Action Potentials

 Occurs when the excited membrane does not
repolarize immediately after depolarization;
prolongs the period of depolarization; occurs in
heart muscle fibers
 Caused by a combination of several factors:
o In the heart, two types of channels
contribute to the depolarization process:
Figure 3. Characteristics of the voltage-gated sodium (top) and potassium (bottom) channels
Summary of Events that Cause the Action Potential the usual voltage-activated sodium
 During the resting state, before the action potential channels called fast channels and the
begins, the conductance for potassium ions is 50 to voltage-activated calcium-sodium
100 times as great as the conductance for sodium channels (L-type calcium channels), which
ions. This disparity is caused by much greater are slow to open
leakage of potassium ions than sodium ions o Another factor that may be that the
through the leak channels. However, at the onset voltage-gated potassium channels are
of the action potential, the sodium channels almost slower to open than usual, often not
instantaneously become activated and allow up to opening much until the end of the plateau
a 5000-fold increase in sodium conductance. The
inactivation process then closes the sodium
channels within another fraction of a millisecond.
The onset of the action potential also initiates
voltage gating of the potassium channels, causing
them to begin opening more slowly, a fraction of a
millisecond after the sodium channels open. At the
end of the action potential, the return of the
membrane potential to the negative state causes the
potassium channels to close back to their original
status but, again, only after an additional Figure 4. Action Potential showing a Plateau
millisecond or more delay.
 Initiation of the action potential occurs only after Rhythmicity of Some Excitable Tissues
the threshold potential is reached (-55 mV)  Rhythmicity – repetitive, self-induced discharges
o For spontaneous rhythmicity to occur the
Propagation of Action Potential membrane must be permeable enough to
 Nerve or Muscle Impulse – transmission of the sodium ions to allow automatic membrane
depolarization process along a nerve or muscle depolarization
fiber
 Direction of propagation – an excitable membrane Characteristics of Signal Transmission
has no single direction of propagation, but the  Axon – central core of a nerve fiber
action potential travels in all directions away from  Axoplasm – a viscid intracellular fluid that fills the
the stimulus until the entire membrane has become axon
depolarized  Myelin sheath – surround the axons
 All-or-Nothing Principle – once an action potential  Schwann cells – deposits the myelin sheath around
has been elicited at any point on the membrane of the axon
a normal fiber, the depolarization process travels
over the entire membrane if conditions are right,

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 Node of Ranvier – small uninsulated area where

ions can still flow with ease through the axon
membrane
 Saltatory Conduction – action potentials are
conducted from node to node; importance of
saltatory conduction:
o Causes the depolarization process to jump
long intervals along the axis of the nerve
fiber increasing the velocity of nerve
transmission in myelinated fibers as much
as 5 to 50-fold
o Conserves energy for the axon because
only the nodes depolarize allowing Figure 6. Effect of Stimuli of Increasing Voltages
perhaps 100 times less loss of ions than
would otherwise be necessary therefore
requiring much less energy expenditure for
re-establishing the sodium and potassium
concentration differences across the
membrane after a series of nerve impulses
 The velocity of action potential conduction in
nerve fibers varies from as little as 0.25 m/sec in
small unmyelinated fibers to as much as 100 m/sec
in large myelinated fiber

Figure 5. Saltatory conduction along a Myelinated axon

Excitation
 The process of eliciting the action potential
 Threshold level – required to elicit an action
potential, but only occurs after a short “latent
period”
 Acute subthreshold potential – when acute local
potentials fail to elicit an action potential
 Absolute refractory period – period which a
second action potential cannot be elicited even
with a strong stimulus

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