Abstract
THE observed values of pH inside nerve and muscle cells are too high to be explained by a passive distribution of H+ across the cell membrane1–4. Thus there is believed to be a system, provisionally named a H+ or proton pump, which transports H+ out of, or OH− or HCO3− into the cell. In spite of its importance, little is known about this system, perhaps because it cannot easily be studied using radioisotopes, the use of which has yielded much information about the far better known Na pump. One way the H+ pump can be investigated is by following intracellular pH (pHi) with a pH-sensitive microelectrode: because a similar Na+-sensitive microelectrode can be used to study the Na pump, it is also possible to compare the two pumps in the same preparation using essentially the same methods. Thus the recessed-tip type of pH-sensitive3 or Na+-sensitive5 microelectrode can be used to record pHi or intracellular Na+ ([Na+]i) in cells, such as snail neurones, which are tough enough to permit intracellular iontophoretic injections of acid or Na salts. I report here experiments in which the mechanism of the H+ pump has been investigated by comparing the response of pHi to HCl injection with the response of [Na+]i to NaCl injection.
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THOMAS, R. Ionic mechanism of the H+ pump in a snail neurone. Nature 262, 54–55 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/262054a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/262054a0
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