Comment on "Local impermeant anions establish the neuronal chloride concentration"

Juha Voipio; Walter F Boron; Stephen W Jones; Ulrich Hopfer; John A Payne; Kai Kaila

doi:10.1126/science.1252978

Comment on "Local impermeant anions establish the neuronal chloride concentration"

Science. 2014 Sep 5;345(6201):1130. doi: 10.1126/science.1252978.

Authors

Juha Voipio¹, Walter F Boron², Stephen W Jones², Ulrich Hopfer², John A Payne³, Kai Kaila⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. juha.voipio@helsinki.fi.
² Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA.
³ Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
⁴ Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.

PMID: 25190787
DOI: 10.1126/science.1252978

Abstract

Glykys et al. (Reports, 7 February 2014, p. 670) conclude that, rather than ion transporters, "local impermeant anions establish the neuronal chloride concentration" and thereby determine "the magnitude and direction of GABAAR currents at individual synapses." If this were possible, perpetual ion-motion machines could be constructed. The authors' conclusions conflict with basic thermodynamic principles.

Publication types

Comment

MeSH terms

Animals
Brain / metabolism*
Chloride Channels / metabolism*
Chlorides / metabolism*
Neurons / metabolism*
Receptors, GABA-A / metabolism*

Substances

Chloride Channels
Chlorides
Receptors, GABA-A