membrane ionic current = -capacitive current
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:31 am
A statement I read all the time is the "total membrane ionic current must be equal and opposite to the total membrane capacitive current"
I appreciated this statement if you replace the word current with charge, i.e. any charge that goes into the cell has to EVENTUALLY come out of the cell. or otherwise you don't have a circuit.
But if at any point of time I-membrane = -I-cap then wouldn't there be no change in membrane voltage? i.e. you need the total of transmembrane current to be equal to some non-zero value to change the transmembrane voltage, right?
I appreciated this statement if you replace the word current with charge, i.e. any charge that goes into the cell has to EVENTUALLY come out of the cell. or otherwise you don't have a circuit.
But if at any point of time I-membrane = -I-cap then wouldn't there be no change in membrane voltage? i.e. you need the total of transmembrane current to be equal to some non-zero value to change the transmembrane voltage, right?