Imagine for a minute we have two sandwiches. The first is a simple bread and butter sandwich. The second is a bread and butter sandwich where we stuff olives into the slices of bread. The cellular membrane is the bread slice. The olives are the ion channels. If we pour olive oil over the first bread and butter only sandwich, the oil will just pool up on the bread. However, if we pour olive oil over the olive stuffed bread, in the places were the olives are, the oil can transfer from the surface of the bread down into the center with the butter. The cell’s membrane is similar to the bread slices of a bread and butter sandwich, with the olives acting as the ion channel pathways. The cell membrane regulates the entry of nutrients and food a cell needs for nourishment and the excretion of waste. Cellular communication is also regulated by the passage of charged atoms and molecules allowing passage of ions through the membrane. An electrode with recording capabilities is attached to a microscopic patch of the cellular membrane. Neher and Sakmann were able to electrically isolate a small patch of membrane and examine individual proteins at work. These proteins serve as the “tunnels or gates” for certain ions, and electrically charged particles are allowed to pass through the cellular membrane. They also found they could continue to gain access to the interior of the cell even after the patch was removed. The work and study carried out by Neher and Sakmann was groundbreaking and found a revolutionary way to study cell physiology, never before attempted.

 

The Nobel committee recognized that life begins through activating ion channels during egg fertilization, when sperm merges with the egg. “Membrane Potential” refers to the difference in the electrical charge inside and outside of the cell. During fertilization, the potential is changed to prevent other sperm from joining the now fertilized egg. This is just one example of many. Characteristic sets of ion channels belong to all cells and help them carry out specific operations or functions. 

 

The two scientists became determined to better understand how electrical current work in muscle and nerve cells. When research began to study how the Patch Clamp Technique would apply to nerve and muscle cells, and other cells in the body, they surprisingly discovered the same electrical activity was occurring in all kinds of cells and the ampere of electrical current required, was much less than previously believed.  The Patch Clamp Technique proved that by applying trillionths of an ampere to the cell membrane, the membrane could be activated electrically to open, take in nutrients it was previously unavailable to, and enable waste elimination that was previously restricted. In this way, instantaneously transforming a cell from degenerative to regenerative.