Resting potential

The resting potential of a cell is the membrane potential that would be maintained if there were no action potentials, synaptic potentials, or other active changes in the membrane potential. In most cells the resting potential has a negative value, which by convention means that there is excess negative charge inside compared to outside. The resting potential is mostly determined by the concentrations of the ions in the fluids on both sides of the cell membrane and the ion transport proteins that are in the cell membrane. How the concentrations of ions and the membrane transport proteins influence the value of the resting potential is outlined below.

Resting Potential Media

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  The Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase, as well as effects of diffusion of the involved ions, are major mechanisms to maintain the resting potential across the membranes of animal cells.

Other websites

• Neuroscience - online textbook by Purves, et al.
• Basic Neurochemistry Molecular, Cellular, and Medical Aspects by Siegel, et al.
• Bertil Hille Ion channels of excitable membranes, 3rd ed., Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA (2001). ISBN 0-87893-321-2
• Generation of resting membrane potential Wright, S.H., Advances in Physiology Education, 28(1-4): 139-142, 2004,