Lipid-protein interplay in the mechanism of the sodium pump

钠泵是动物细胞的主要耗能酶。它的离子泵送对许多生理过程（如神经、肌肉和肾脏活动以及细胞体积的维持）至关重要。由于它在许多细胞功能中的重要性，这种酶必须能够对细胞条件作出反应。通过对分离膜片段中酶活性的测量，并与其在活细胞中的行为进行比较，该项目旨在确定钠泵活性是如何被跨膜电位和膜内电场强度调节的。我们的项目可以为膜蛋白的功能如何通过其脂质环境的电学性质来控制提供基本的新知识。

The sodium pump is the major energy-consuming enzyme of animal cells. Its ion pumping is essential to numerous physiological processes (e.g. nerve, muscle and kidney activity and the maintenance of cell volume). Because of its importance in so many cell functions, the enzyme must be able to respond to cellular conditions. Using measurements of the enzyme's activity in isolated membrane fragments and comparison with its behaviour in living cells, this project aims to determine how sodium pump activity is modulated by transmembrane electric potential and intramembrane electric field strength. Our project could provide fundamental new knowledge on how membrane protein function in general can be controlled by electrical properties of their lipid surroundings.