Permeation mechanism of a two-state potassium channel

Abstract

A two-state hopping model was proposed to study the permeation of ion channel. The Nernst equation in equilibrium and the Michaelis-Menten relation in steady state were derived from the two-state kinetic model. The currentvoltage relationship obtained in the symmetrical solutions case was linear when the applied potential was less than 100 mV, which met Ohm s law. The conductance-concentration relationship exhibited the saturation property. Moreover, the characteristic time reaching the steady state of the KcsA channel was also discussed.