Ionic channels as electrostatic amplifiers of charge fluctuations

Luchinsky, D. G.; Tindjong, R.; Kaufman, I.; McClintock, P. V. E.; Eisenberg, R. S.

Ionic channels as electrostatic amplifiers of charge fluctuations

Authors

Description

Electrostatic interaction between ions in an ionic channel and the charge fluctuations in the channel mouth are considered. It is shown that the charge fluctuations can be enhanced in the channels with low dielectric constant and result in strong modulation of the potential barrier at the selectivity site. The effect of charge fluctuational on transition probabilities in other molecular dynamical systems is briefly discussed.
6 pages 4 figures