Continuum Gating Current Models Computed with Consistent Interactions (Biophysical Journal)

The action potential of nerve and muscle is produced by voltage sensitive channels that include a specialized device to sense voltage. The voltage sensor depends on the movement of charges in the changing electric field, as suggested by Hodgkin and Huxley. Gating currents of the voltage sensor are now known to depend on the movements of positively charged arginines through the hydrophobic plug of a voltage sensor domain. Transient movements of these permanently charged arginines, caused by the change of transmembrane potential V, further drag the S4 segment and induce opening/closing of ion conduction pore by moving the S4-S5 linker.