CHAPTER 2: ONE ESSENTIAL SOURCE: ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY

The basic concepts are briefly reviewed, for nerves, muscles, and heart (resting potential, action potential, and conduction velocity), as they are essential source of information. The ion channels and their most recent concepts are also covered succinctly since, for transport efficiency, channels have an advantage over carriers in that up to 100 million ions can pass through one open channel each second, a rate 10⁵ times greater than the fastest rate of transport mediated by any known carrier protein. Besides, the relationship to the Maxwell and Kirchhoff equations is given as the strongest theoretical ground electrophysiology may have.