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. 2013 Dec 19;9(12):e1003386. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003386

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© 2013 Halnes et al

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.

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A representative astrocyte (I) exchanging ions with the ECS (E). As indicated, ions could cross the astrocytic membrane via passive Na⁺ or Cl⁻ channels, via the K⁺ Kir channel or the Na⁺/K⁺-pump. Ions could also be transported longitudinally by electrical migration or diffusion through the ICS () or ECS (). The cation-exchange input was a constant influx of K⁺ and efflux of Na⁺ to/from the ECS of the input zone (defined as the region ). The cation-exchange output was an efflux of K⁺ and influx Na⁺ from/to the ECS. The output was proportional to the local K⁺-concentration, and occurred over the whole axis. The decay zone was defined as the part of the axis where no input was applied (), i.e., the region where there was a net efflux of K+ from the system.

Inline graphic — A representative astrocyte (I) exchanging ions with the ECS (E). As indicated, ions could cross the astrocytic membrane via passive Na⁺ or Cl⁻ channels, via the K⁺ Kir channel or the Na⁺/K⁺-pump. Ions could also be transported longitudinally by electrical migration or diffusion through the ICS () or ECS (). The cation-exchange input was a constant influx of K⁺ and efflux of Na⁺ to/from the ECS of the input zone (defined as the region ). The cation-exchange output was an efflux of K⁺ and influx Na⁺ from/to the ECS. The output was proportional to the local K⁺-concentration, and occurred over the whole axis. The decay zone was defined as the part of the axis where no input was applied (), i.e., the region where there was a net efflux of K+ from the system.