Electrical characteristics of the ionic psn-junction as a model of the resting axon membrane

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Abstract
As a model for the resting axon membrane, we propose the ionic psn-junction. Its electrical characteristics can be determined in close analogy to the corresponding electronic semiconductor junction. Using the “semianalytic approximation”, we calculated the electrical capacity and the ionic currents. In contrast to the abrupt pn-junction, the electrical capacity of the psn-junction turns out to be practically voltage-independent, as it is observed for the squid axon membrane. The passive ionic fluxes for K+, Na+ and Cl−, as the main contributions to the total charge flux, are calculated and compared with literature data on the ion fluxes through the resting squid axon membrane as measured by use of radioactive tracers. From this comparison, the ionic permeabilities can be evaluated and used to compute the resting membrane conductivity, which is found to be close to the experimental value. Further evidence in favor of the proposed asymmetrical membrane structure and possible ways of its test by the methods of protein chemistry are discussed.