Electrical potential active transport

Sodium and potassium ions are actively absorbed from the intestine. As a consequence of the electrical potential caused by transport of these ions, an equivalent quantity of Cf is absorbed. The resulting osmotic effect causes absorption of water (56). 

Allelopathic inhibition of mineral uptake results from alteration of cellular membrane functions in plant roots. Evidence that allelochemicals alter mineral absorption comes from studies showing changes in mineral concentration in plants that were grown in association with other plants, with debris from other plants, with leachates from other plants, or with specific allelochemicals. More conclusive experiments have shown that specific allelochemicals (phenolic acids and flavonoids) inhibit mineral absorption by excised plant roots. The physiological mechanism of action of these allelochemicals involves the disruption of normal membrane functions in plant cells. These allelochemicals can depolarize the electrical potential difference across membranes, a primary driving force for active absorption of mineral ions. Allelochemicals can also decrease the ATP content of cells by inhibiting electron transport and oxidative phosphorylation, which are two functions of mitochondrial membranes. In addition, allelochemicals can alter the permeability of membranes to mineral ions. Thus, lipophilic allelochemicals can alter mineral absorption by several mechanisms as the chemicals partition into or move through cellular membranes. Which mechanism predominates may depend upon the particular allelochemical, its concentration, and environmental conditions (especially pH). 

This results in the extrusion of three positive charges for every two that enter the cell, resulting in a transmembrane potential of 50-70 mV, and has enormous physiological significance. More than one-third of the ATP utilized by resting mammalian cells is used to maintain the intracellular Na+-K+ gradient (in nerve cells this can rise up to 70%), which controls cell volume, allows neurons and muscle cells to be electrically excitable, and also drives the active transport of sugars and amino acids (see later). 

Amiloride and triamterene-Am or 6e and triamterene not only inhibit sodium reabsorption induced by aldosterone, but they also inhibit basal sodium reabsorption. They are not aldosterone antagonists, but act directly on the renal distal tubule, cortical collecting tubule and collecting duct. They induce a reversal of polarity of the transtubular electrical-potential difference and inhibit active transport of sodium and potassium. Amiloride may inhibit sodium, potassium-ATPase. 

FIGURE 11-36 Na+K+ ATPase. In animal cells, this active transport system is primarily responsible for setting and maintaining the intracellular concentrations of Na+ and K+ and for generating the transmembrane electrical potential. It does this by moving three Na+ out of the cell for every two K+ it moves in. The electrical potential is central to electrical signaling in neurons, and the gradient of Na+ is used to drive the uphill cotransport of solutes in many cell types. 

Active transport of a solute against a concentration gradient also can be driven by a flow of an ion down its concentration gradient. Table 17.6 lists some of the active-transport systems that operate in this way. In some cases, the ion moves across the membrane in the opposite direction to the primary substrate (antiport) in others, the two species move in the same direction (symport). Many eukaryotic cells take up neutral amino acids by coupling this uptake to the inward movement of Na+ (see fig. 17.26c). As we discussed previously, Na+ influx is downhill thermodynamically because the Na+-K+ pump keeps the intracellular concentration of Na+ lower than the extracellular concentration and sets up a favorable electric potential difference across the membrane. Another example is the /3-galactosidc transport system of E. coli, which couples uptake of lactose to the inward flow of protons (see fig. 17.26Proton influx is downhill because electron-transfer reactions (or,... 

This chapter describes the effects of dc fields on ions transport in soils, electrolysis and geochemical reactions, microbial adhesion and transport, and microbial activity. The interest in these in these processes is derived from the potential of using electric fields for transporting and mixing contaminants, biostimulants, and bioaugmentation inoculants to enhance in situ bioremediation. 

In this case, the energy required for the transport of the molecule across the membrane is derived from the coupled hydrolysis of ATP, for example the movement of Na+ and K+ ions by the Na+/K+-ATPase. All cells maintain a high internal concentration of K+ and a low internal concentration of Na+. The resulting Na+/K+ gradient across the plasma membrane is important for the active transport of certain molecules, and the maintenance of the membrane electrical potential (see Topic N3). The movement across the membrane of Na+, K+, Ca2+ and H+, as well as a number of other molecules, is directly coupled to the hydrolysis of ATP. 

Hirata, H Altendorf, K Harold, F.M. (1973). Role of an electrical potential in the coupling of metabolic energy to active transport by membrane vesicles of E. coli. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 70,1804-1808. 

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