depolaryzuj

Depolaryzuj is the Polish imperative form of the verb depolaryzować, meaning to depolarize. In everyday usage the word appears in scientific, medical, and educational contexts to instruct or describe the act of causing a depolarization of a cell membrane.

In biology, depolarization refers to a change in a cell’s membrane potential from a more negative value toward zero and beyond, making the interior of the cell less negative. This process is a key step in generating an action potential in excitable cells such as neurons, muscle fibers, and cardiac cells. Resting membrane potentials are typically negative due to ion gradients maintained by pumps and channels. When a depolarizing stimulus reaches a threshold, voltage-gated sodium channels open, allowing Na+ ions to flow into the cell. The rapid inward current causes the membrane potential to rise sharply (depolarization) and, in many cells, to briefly become positive (overshoot).

Repolarization follows as potassium channels open and potassium exits the cell, returning the membrane potential toward the resting level. Sodium channels inactivate, and the Na+/K+ ATPase helps restore ionic gradients over time. The precise kinetics of depolarization and repolarization differ among neuron, skeletal muscle, and cardiac tissues, contributing to distinct action potential shapes and conduction properties. Clinically, depolarization is central to electrophysiology and treatments such as defibrillation, which aim to reset electrical activity by inducing widespread depolarization of cardiac tissue.