Pumps sodium-potassium ATPase

Pumps move ions and molecules up their electrochemical gradient. Pumps require energy, usually in the form of ATP hydrolysis. Sodium-potassium ATPase is an example of a pump. Cells maintain a higher concentration of potassium inside the cell than they do outside the cell. Sodium is maintained low inside, high outside. Sodium-potassium ATPase pumps three sodium ions from inside the cell to outside. This is the unfavorable direction—Na+ moves from low concentration to a higher one and against the membrane potential. At the same time, it also... 

ATP is used not only to power muscle contraction, but also to re-establish the resting state of the cell. At the end of the contraction cycle, calcium must be transported back into the sarcoplasmic reticulum, a process which is ATP driven by an active pump mechanism. Additionally, an active sodium-potassium ATPase pump is required to reset the membrane potential by extruding sodium from the sarcoplasm after each wave of depolarization. When cytoplasmic Ca2- falls, tropomyosin takes up its original position on the actin and prevents myosin binding and the muscle relaxes. Once back in the sarcoplasmic reticulum, calcium binds with a protein called calsequestrin, where it remains until the muscle is again stimulated by a neural impulse leading to calcium release into the cytosol and the cycle repeats. 

Inorganic ions, such as sodium and potassium, move through the cell membrane by active transport. Unlike diffusion, energy is required for active transport as the chemical is moving from a lower concentration to a higher one. One example is the sodium-potassium ATPase pump, which transports sodium [Na ] ions out of the cell and potassium [K ] into the cell. 

This must obviously be the opposite of passive transport. Active transport does require energy, usually in the form of the consumption of ATP or GTP, because the molecules are moving against the concentration gradient from an area of lower concentration to an area of higher concentration. The most well known active transport system is the Sodium-Potassium-ATPase Pump (Na" "- K+ZATPase) which maintains an imbalance of sodium and potassium ions inside and outside the membrane, respectively. See Figure 3. 

Sodium-Potassium ATPase Pump An Active Transport System... 

The plasma membrane of neurons, like all other cells, has an unequal distribution of ions and electrical charges between its two sides. Sodium-potassium ATPase pumps maintain this unequal concentration by actively transporting ions against their concentration gradients sodium in, potassium out. The membrane is positive outside and negative inside. This charge difference is referred to as the resting potential and is measured in millivolts (=—65 mV). 

A. Cardiac glycosides inhibit the function of the sodium-potassium-ATPase pump. After acute overdose, this results in hypeikalemia (with chronic intoxication, the serum potassium level is usually normal or low owing to concurrent diuretic therapy). 

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