Membrane potential concentrations

When first developed, potentiometry was restricted to redox equilibria at metallic electrodes, limiting its application to a few ions. In 1906, Cremer discovered that a potential difference exists between the two sides of a thin glass membrane when opposite sides of the membrane are in contact with solutions containing different concentrations of H3O+. This discovery led to the development of the glass pH electrode in 1909. Other types of membranes also yield useful potentials. Kolthoff and Sanders, for example, showed in 1937 that pellets made from AgCl could be used to determine the concentration of Ag+. Electrodes based on membrane potentials are called ion-selective electrodes, and their continued development has extended potentiometry to a diverse array of analytes. 

If metallic electrodes were the only useful class of indicator electrodes, potentiometry would be of limited applicability. The discovery, in 1906, that a thin glass membrane develops a potential, called a membrane potential, when opposite sides of the membrane are in contact with solutions of different pH led to the eventual development of a whole new class of indicator electrodes called ion-selective electrodes (ISEs). following the discovery of the glass pH electrode, ion-selective electrodes have been developed for a wide range of ions. Membrane electrodes also have been developed that respond to the concentration of molecular analytes by using a chemical reaction to generate an ion that can be monitored with an ion-selective electrode. The development of new membrane electrodes continues to be an active area of research. 

Interaction of the analyte with the membrane results in a membrane potential if there is a difference in the analyte s concentration on opposite sides of the membrane. One side of the membrane is in contact with an internal solution containing a fixed concentration of analyte, while the other side of the membrane is in contact with the sample. Current is carried through the membrane by the movement of either the analyte or an ion already present in the membrane s matrix. The membrane potential is given by a Nernst-like equation... 

An electrode in which the membrane potential is a function of the concentration of a particular ion in solution. 

If a mixture of an insoluble silver salt and Ag2S is used to make the membrane, then the membrane potential also responds to the concentration of the anion of the added silver salt. Thus, pellets made from a mixture of Ag2S and AgCl can serve as a Ck ion-selective electrode, with a cell potential of... 

Free Ions Versus Complexed Ions In discussing the ion-selective electrode, we noted that the membrane potential is influenced by the concentration of F , but not the concentration of HF. An analysis for fluoride, therefore, is pH-dependent. Below a pH of approximately 4, fluoride is present predominantly as HF, and a quantitative analysis for total fluoride is impossible. If the pH is increased to greater than 4, however, the equilibrium... 

The transmembrane potential derived from a concentration gradient is calculable by means of the Nemst equation. If K+ were the only permeable ion then the membrane potential would be given by Eq. 1. With an ion activity (concentration) gradient for K+ of 10 1 from one side to the other of the membrane at 20 °C, the membrane potential that develops on addition of Valinomycin approaches a limiting value of 58 mV87). This is what is calculated from Eq. 1 and indicates that cation over anion selectivity is essentially total. As the conformation of Valinomycin in nonpolar solvents in the absence of cation is similar to that of the cation complex 105), it is quite understandable that anions have no location for interaction. One could with the Valinomycin structure construct a conformation in which a polar core were formed with six peptide N—H moieties directed inward in place of the C—O moieties but... 

The net electrochemical driving force is determined by two factors, the electrical potential difference across the cell membrane and the concentration gradient of the permeant ion across the membrane. Changing either one can change the net driving force. The membrane potential of a cell is defined as the inside potential minus the outside, i.e. the potential difference across the cell membrane. It results from the separation of charge across the cell membrane. 

In resting muscle the high concentration of ADP does not decrease the proton gradient effectively and the high membrane potential slows electron transport. ADP, formed when ATP is hydrolyzed by myosin ATPase during contraction, may stimulate electron transport. However, the concentration of ATP (largely as its Mg salt) is buffered by its readily reversible formation from creatine phosphate catalyzed in the intermembrane space, and in other cell compartments, by the various isoenzymes of creatine kinase (reviewed by Walliman et al., 1992). 

We shall write (p) and (q) for the membrane surface layers adjacent to solutions (a) and (p), respectively. Using the equations reported in Section 5.3, we can calculate the ionic concentrations in these layers as well as the potential differences and between the phases. According to Eq. (5.1), the expression for the total membrane potential additionally contains the diffusion potential within the membrane itself, where equilibrium is lacking. Its value can be found with the equations of Section 5.2 when the values of and have first been calculated. 

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