Depolarization
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In biology, depolarization or hypopolarization is a change within a cell, during which the cell undergoes a shift in electric charge distribution, resulting in less negative charge inside the cell com
Action potential in a neuron, showing depolarization, in which the cell's internal charge becomes less negative (more positive), and repolarization, where the internal charge returns to a more negative value.
Voltage-gated sodium channel. Open channel (top) carries an influx of Na+ ions, giving rise to depolarization. As the channel becomes closed/inactivated (bottom), the depolarization ends.
Structure of a neuron
Summation of stimuli at an axon hillock
Membrane potential
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Membrane potential is the difference in electric potential between the interior and the exterior of a biological cell.
Depolarization
…organisms maintain an internal environment that is negatively charged relative to the cell's exterior. This difference in charge is called the cell's membrane potential. In the process of depolarization, the negative internal charge of the cell temporarily becomes more positive (less negative). This shift from a negative…
Graph displaying an EPSP, an IPSP, and the summation of an EPSP and an IPSP