Confocal Raman Microscopy in VIS for Analysing Conformational Changes in Channel Proteins

Ion channels are crucial proteins of all cells capable of generating electrical signals, responsible for converting chemical or mechanical messages into electrical signals by rapidly altering the ion concentration within the cell upon activation of the channel gate. Ion channel gating is a rapid, complex process occurring within a few milliseconds and often several gate mechanisms can be found within one protein. For example, the human Connexin 26 alone is known to have plug gating, fast gating, and several chemical gating processes, the first two of which involve conformational changes within the protein [1-3].