Review
Overview of the voltage-gated sodium channel family
Department of Pharmacology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7280, USA
Genome Biology 2003, 4:207 doi:10.1186/gb-2003-4-3-207
Published: 24 February 2003Abstract
Selective permeation of sodium ions through voltage-dependent sodium channels is fundamental to the generation of action potentials in excitable cells such as neurons. These channels are large integral membrane proteins and are encoded by at least ten genes in mammals. The different sodium channels have remarkably similar functional properties, but small changes in sodium-channel function are biologically relevant, as underscored by mutations that cause several human diseases of hyperexcitability.
