TRANSPORT OF IONS ACROSS CELLULAR MEMBRANES

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Abstract
Author s conclusion: Specific chemical reactions between certain inorganic ions and organic cell constituents are of decisive importance for the ion transport processes. Although the pore size of the membranes and electric potentials resulting from metabolic processes must play a major part, pores and potentials cannot alone explain the ion distributions found. The problem of specific ion transport should conceivably be attacked, as in the study of metabolic enzymes, by finding specific poisons for the different steps involved. But for the time being the major problem remains to determine which ions are actively and specifically transported. The study of the cellular metabolism has taught us that the apparently simple combustion of organic matter is the resultant of an enormous number of enzyme reactions. Similarly, the number of ion transport mechanisms may also be very large; but in certain organs some process or other may be vastly superior to the others in determining the ion movements,and in such organs the particular systems may be studied. The combined use of tracers and electrophysiological technique should prove very useful in determining which specific transport processes are predominant in different cells and tissues.

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