Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 22, 2026

Membrane Transport Processes Analyzed by a Highly Parallel Nanopore Chip System at Single Protein Resolution
Published on: August 16, 2016
Ion fluxes through nanopores and transmembrane channels
J R Bordin1, A Diehl, M C Barbosa
1Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Abstract:
We introduce an implicit solvent Molecular Dynamics approach for calculating ionic fluxes through narrow nanopores and transmembrane channels. The method relies on a dual-control-volume grand-canonical molecular dynamics (DCV-GCMD) simulation and the analytical solution for the electrostatic potential inside a cylindrical nanopore recently obtained by Levin [Europhys. Lett. 76, 163 (2006)]. The theory is used to calculate the ionic fluxes through an artificial transmembrane channel which mimics the antibacterial gramicidin A channel. Both current-voltage and current-concentration relations are calculated under various experimental conditions. We show that our results are comparable to the characteristics associated to the gramicidin A pore, especially the existence of two binding sites inside the pore and the observed saturation in the current-concentration profiles.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
The Significance of Membrane Transport
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...
The Significance of Membrane Transport
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...
Fluid Movement Between Compartments
Ion Channels
Ion channels are specialized integral membrane proteins on the plasma membrane that allow specific...
Facilitated Transport
Facilitated Transport

