An electrostatic model of a membrane ion pump

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Abstract
The model is based upon an ion channel with an electric dipolar structure. With simplifying assumptions it is possible to calculate that a typical channel, 1 nm in diameter and 5 nm long, could contain at most two or three univalent cations at a time. The channel ion binding sites have an effective affinity for ions from the fluid bathing the negative end of the channel, several orders of magnitude higher than their affinity for ions from the fluid bathing the positive end of the channel. The approach of an external, positively charged body to the negative end of the channel, is sufficient to convert the two- or three-channel ion sites with high affinity for ions from the fluid bathing this end into very low affinity sites for the same ions that now have access only to the fluid bathing the other end of the channel. The change in affinity and fluid access requires no molecular or electrical change in the channel structure other than the passive superposition of the electrostatic potential of the dipolar channel and that of the charged body. An oscillating electric field externally applied to an electric dipolar channel is shown to result in the unidirectional pumping of cations in the direction of the channel dipole even against large adverse ion concentration gradients. The energy required must be supplied by the sources of the electric field. By using two such channels in close proximity, one selective for K+ ions with its dipole moment pointing into a cell and the other selective for Na+ ions with its dipole moment pointing out from the cell, it is possible to construct a model pump with calculated properties that simulate many of those measured for Na+-K+-ATPase, with both physiological and artificial ionic concentrations.

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