where is the sodium potassium pump located in the body
Na+/K+-ATPase Na+/K+-ATPase (sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase, also known as the Na+/K+ pump or sodiumâ€“potassium pump) is an enzyme (EC 3.6.3.9) (an electrogenic transmembrane ATPase) found in the plasma membrane of all animal cells. The Na+/K+-ATPase enzyme is a solute pump that pumps sodium out of cells while pumping potassium into cells, both against their concentration gradients. This pumping is active (i.e. it uses energy from ATP) and is important for cell physiology. An example application is nerve conduction.
Action potential Action potentials are generated by special types of voltage-gated ion channels embedded in a cell's plasma membrane.[b] These channels are shut when the membrane potential is near the (negative) resting potential of the cell, but they rapidly begin to open if the membrane increases to a precisely defined threshold voltage, depolarising the transmembrane potential.[b] When the channels open they allow an inward flow of sodium ions, which changes the electrochemical gradient, which in turn produces a further rise in the membrane potential. This then causes more channels to open, producing a greater electric current across the cell membrane, and so on. The process proceeds explosively until all of the available ion channels are open, resulting in a large upswing in the membrane potential. The rapid influx of sodium ions causes the polarity of the plasma membrane to reverse, and the ion channels then rapidly inactivate. As the sodium channels close, sodium ions can no longer enter the neuron, and then they are actively transported back out of the plasma membrane. Potassium channels are then activated, and there is an outward current of potassium ions, returning the electrochemical gradient to the resting state. After an action potential has occurred, there is a transient negative shift, called the afterhyperpolarization.