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Nature 411, 643-644 (7 June 2001) | doi:10.1038/35079705
Fifty years of inactivation
Richard W. Aldrich
Abstract
Potassium channels can be closed by a process known as inactivation — this is, for instance, how nerve cells regulate firing frequency. Events involved in inactivation are now revealed in unprecedented detail.
The ion channels that span cell membranes and moderate the transmembrane flow of electrical currents regulate a whole range of biological phenomena. The channels themselves are controlled in a variety of ways, one notable group being 'voltage-gated' — they open in response to, and then cause, changes in membrane voltage.
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