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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Mech Phys Solids. 2012 Jun 1;60(6):1158–1178. doi: 10.1016/j.jmps.2012.02.004

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Channelrhodopsin-2 is a light-gated cation channel native to the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. It consists of seven transmembrane proteins and absorbs blue light through its interaction with retinal. Photoisomerization of retinal opens the channel to sodium ions, which have a higher concentration outside than inside the cell. To make our cells responsive to light, and allow sodium concentrations to equilibrate, we induce channelrhodopsin into a conventional cardiac muscle cell model.