Week 2 Electrical Conduction Flashcards
Relative to the outside of a cell, is the inside positive or negative in charge?
The inside of the cell is negative
Is potassium higher in concentration inside or outside of a cardiac muscle cell?
It higher inside the cell
Intracellular: K = 140mEq/L
Extracellular: K = 4mEq/L
Is sodium higher in concentration inside or outside the cell?
Outside the cell
Intracellular: Na = 14mEq/L
Extracellular: Na = 142mEq/L
What prevents potassium from leaking out of a cell until the concentration is the same on the outside and inside of the cell?
Chemical driving force is eventually balanced by electrical driving force so no further net movement of potassium
What does the Nernst Equation calculate?
*Equilibrium potential
The electrical potential (amount of build-up of negativity on inside of cell membrane) that equals the chemical driving force
What ion makes the major contribution to the resting membrane potential of the cardiac muscle cell?
Potassium
What ion makes a small contribution tot he resting membrane potential?
Sodium
What ion pump returns ion concentrations back to baseline?
Na+ K+ - ATPase Pump
How does the Na+, K+ -ATPase pump contribute to resting membrane potential?
The pump is powered by ATP and moves 3 Na ions out of the cell, and 2 K ions into the cell
What ion mines rapidly into a cell during depolarization?
Sodium
What ion exits the cell to restore the baseline electrical charge in a cell during repolarization?
Potassium
What restores ion concentrations back to their baseline levels?
ATPase pump
In what part fo the heart are fast-response action potentials (non-pacemaker action potentials) found?
They are found in fibers
- atrial myocardial fibers - ventricular myocardial fibers - purkinje fibers
In what part of the heart are slow-response action potentials (pacemaker action potentials) typically found?
Slow response are nodes
- sinoatrial node - atrioventricular node
What are some differences between non-pacemaker and pacemaker action potentials?
Pacemaker (nodes) resting membrane potentials are higher than non-pacemaker (fast)
There is no phase 1 in slow response action potential
-they also start at a higher voltage: -60 or -70, rather than -90
What makes the potassium move intra-cellular to extra-cellular
Concentration gradient
As potassium moves outside the cell, what happens to the charge of the cell?
The cell becomes negatively charged
It’s a membrane potential bc the potassium has left behind a negatively charged anion, and it makes the potassium what to come back into the cell
Concentration gradient is driving K out, and a negative membrane potential drives the potassium to want to be back inside
What is equilibrium potential for potassium
When the amount of K moving out of the cell is equal to the amount of K moving into the cell
Almost no difference of the movement of potassium
What is chemical gradient?
Concentration difference
This exists for K+ to diffuse out of the cell.
The opposite is found for Na+ and Ca++, their chemical gradient favors inward diffusion.
What is equilibrium potential?
The membrane potential that is necessary to oppose the outward movement of K+ down its concentration gradient
What is equilibrium potential?
The potential difference across the membrane required to maintain the concentration gradient across the membrane
*represents the electrical potential necessary to keep K+ from diffusing down its chemical gradient and out of the cell
What is resting membrane potential?
It’s determined by the concentrations of positively and negatively charged ions across the cell membrane, the relative permeability of the cell membrane to those ions, and the ionic pumps that transport ions across the cell membrane
What is depolarization?
When a cell becomes less negative