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Main Author: Green, Yoav
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.03342
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author Green, Yoav
author_facet Green, Yoav
contents In the past eighty years, the Goldman-Hodgkins-Katz (GHK) equation has been the gold-standard framework for interpreting countless biological and physiological experiments and simulations that involve ion transport in nanopores/nanochannels/ion-channels subjected to a combined ionic concentration and electric potential gradients. In this work, we revisit the mathematical derivation used to develop the GHK model and show that this model is internally inconsistent. In particular, we show that its infamous assumption of a constant electric field is incorrect, which leads to substantial errors, including the inability of this model to satisfy local and global electroneutrality. Then, leveraging key insights from the field of reverse electrodialysis (RED), we derive a new internally consistent model that does not assume that the electric field is constant and satisfies electroneutrality. This new model has several advantages. First, while the mathematics are substantially more complicated, the derivation does not include ad-hoc assumptions, and the model is internally consistent. Second, the new solution connects the two realms of GHK and RED, which consider the same equations but in opposing limits, negligible or substantial surface charge density effects, respectively. Third, while the expressions for the new model are complicated, the new model can be reduced to several limits, which allows for a much easier and more straightforward analysis. Finally, all of our newly derived results show remarkable correspondence to non-approximated numerical simulations. This work provides a brand-new framework for interpreting (and reinterpreting) ion transport experiments in any charge-selective system.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_03342
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Goldman-Hodgkins-Katz Equation, Reverse-Electrodialysis, and Everything in Between
Green, Yoav
Biological Physics
In the past eighty years, the Goldman-Hodgkins-Katz (GHK) equation has been the gold-standard framework for interpreting countless biological and physiological experiments and simulations that involve ion transport in nanopores/nanochannels/ion-channels subjected to a combined ionic concentration and electric potential gradients. In this work, we revisit the mathematical derivation used to develop the GHK model and show that this model is internally inconsistent. In particular, we show that its infamous assumption of a constant electric field is incorrect, which leads to substantial errors, including the inability of this model to satisfy local and global electroneutrality. Then, leveraging key insights from the field of reverse electrodialysis (RED), we derive a new internally consistent model that does not assume that the electric field is constant and satisfies electroneutrality. This new model has several advantages. First, while the mathematics are substantially more complicated, the derivation does not include ad-hoc assumptions, and the model is internally consistent. Second, the new solution connects the two realms of GHK and RED, which consider the same equations but in opposing limits, negligible or substantial surface charge density effects, respectively. Third, while the expressions for the new model are complicated, the new model can be reduced to several limits, which allows for a much easier and more straightforward analysis. Finally, all of our newly derived results show remarkable correspondence to non-approximated numerical simulations. This work provides a brand-new framework for interpreting (and reinterpreting) ion transport experiments in any charge-selective system.
title The Goldman-Hodgkins-Katz Equation, Reverse-Electrodialysis, and Everything in Between
topic Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.03342