jonkanalplats

Jonkanalplats is a Swedish term used in biology to denote the region of an ion channel responsible for ion conduction—the pore and its surrounding lining within the channel protein. In English, this corresponds to the ion channel pore and its selectivity features. Ion channels are transmembrane proteins that assemble into pores allowing specific ions (such as Na+, K+, Ca2+, Cl−) to cross the cell membrane, thereby shaping electrical signaling, osmoregulation, and various cellular processes.

Most ion channels are gated: voltage-gated channels open in response to membrane voltage changes; ligand-gated channels respond to binding of chemicals; mechanosensitive channels respond to membrane stretch; temperature-sensitive channels respond to thermal changes. The jonkanalplats often includes the selectivity filter—a narrow region formed by specific amino acids that discriminate ions by size and charge—and the inner lining of the pore that conducts ions when the channel is open.

Regulation of the jonkanalplats occurs through conformational changes, interactions with auxiliary subunits, phosphorylation, and the lipid environment. Malfunctioning ion channel sites can lead to channelopathies, a broad class of disorders including neuropathies, cardiac arrhythmias, and epilepsy.

Study of jonkanalplats uses electrophysiology (patch-clamp), structural biology (cryo-EM, X-ray), and mutational analysis to understand ion selectivity and gating mechanisms.