Origins, roles and mechanisms of ion selectivity for voltage-gated sodium and calcium channels

控制身体机能的电信号是由离子通量通过高离子选择性电压门控通道形成的。我们目前对离子通道如何具有离子选择性的理解是由罗德里克·麦金农获得诺贝尔奖的钾选择通道的x射线晶体结构所理解的。钾离子通道中的离子选择性涉及沙漏形离子选择孔的最窄点，那里存在临界离子选择性过滤器残留物。

The electrical signals which control bodily functions are shaped by ion flux through highly ion selective voltage-gated channels. Our current understanding of how ion channels are ion selective is understood by Roderick Mackinnon’s Nobel Prize winning X-ray crystal structure of the potassium-selective channel. Ion selectivity in potassium channels involves the narrowest point of the hourglass shaped ion selective pore where there are critical ion selectivity filter residues.