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.

 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). 
 Generation of resting membrane potential Wright, S.H., Advances in Physiology Education, 28(1-4): 139-142, 2004,

Category:Biochemistry