Cognition Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Cognition, including details on psychology, neuroscience, memory, brain theory.

A model for understanding membrane potential using springs.

Cardozo DL

Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. david_cardozo@hms.harvard.edu

In this report, I present a simple model using springs to conceptualize the relationship between ionic conductances across a cellular membrane and their effect on membrane potential. The equation describing the relationships linking membrane potential, ionic equilibrium potential, and ionic conductance is of similar form to that describing the force generated by a spring as a function of its displacement. The spring analogy is especially useful in helping students to conceptualize the effects of multiple conductances on membrane potential.

Published 21 November 2005 in Adv Physiol Educ, 29(4): 204-7.
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