A possible mechanism for concentrating sodium and potassium in the cell nucleus

Abstract

A dynamic, nonequilibrium mechanism is proposed for concentrating both Na+ and K+ in the cell nucleus. The model is consistent with experiment observations and with known properties of cell membranes. This model could explaing the high nucleoplasm to cytoplasm ratios of Na+ and/or K+ reported for liver kidney, thymus, frog skin, ascites cells, and amphibian oocytes. © 1976, The Biophysical Society. All rights reserved.