T. Kiss et O. Osipenko, METAL ION-INDUCED PERMEABILITY CHANGES IN CELL-MEMBRANES - A MINIREVIEW, Cellular and molecular neurobiology, 14(6), 1994, pp. 781-789
1. The paper summarizes the effects of the metal ions Cu2+, Pb2+, Ag+,
Hg2+, Zn2+, and Cd2+ applied externally or internally to the surface
membrane of different excitable cells. 2. Conductance changes induced
by metal ions, and metal ion-activated current, are compared with resp
ect to their ion and voltage dependence. 3. It is suggested that metal
ion-induced effects can be realized through special structures of the
cell membrane, the metal ion ''receptors,'' although other mechanisms
, as, for example, competition for Ca-binding sites in the channel for
ming proteins, cannot be excluded.