How to Use ion channel in a Sentence

ion channel

noun
  • These ions move in and out of the cell via pores known as ion channels.
    Jenny Wilkerson, chicagotribune.com, 12 Sep. 2019
  • The challenge was to find the right ion channel to target with a drug.
    The Economist, 20 Sep. 2019
  • Whether an ion channel is open or closed is context dependent.
    Gabriel A. Silva, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022
  • Interrupting this flow, a process called ion channel disruption, works, but kills healthy cells, too.
    Jill Kiedaisch, Popular Mechanics, 9 Jan. 2019
  • The researchers discovered that two members of a class of ion channels that can sense a change in temperature were present in neural crest cells from chickens and mice.
    Aimee Cunningham, Washington Post, 28 Oct. 2017
  • Azithromycin raises concerns because it, too, can block ion channels and tinker with the heart’s electrical pattern.
    Kelly Servick, Science | AAAS, 21 Apr. 2020
  • After a single two-day bath in a widely available ion channel drug, the tadpoles rearranged themselves and grew as normal.
    Sally Adee, Quartz, 30 May 2019
  • Scientists could now clone cells with and without particular ion channels and see what happened.
    Sally Adee, Quartz, 30 May 2019
  • The ion channels in their neurons, which these venom toxins target, have mutated so the toxin is ineffective.
    National Geographic, 18 Sep. 2016
  • For about two-thirds of patients, drugs that modify the function of ion channels—proteins in the membranes of neurons and other brain cells that transmit electrical signals—fully restrain seizures.
    Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, Science | AAAS, 12 Dec. 2019
  • Both could disable gated ion channels embedded in the membranes that control electrical impulses in nerves.
    Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 12 Dec. 2017
  • Normally, such an ion channel would be invisible—but if there happens to be an electrical storm underway, the channel would offer a conduit for lightning.
    Dan Falk, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 May 2021
  • During exercise, bones are stimulated and a mechanosensitive ion channel called Pizeo1 is activated on the LepR+Oln+ cells.
    Chris Smith, BGR, 28 Feb. 2021
  • Insects use many other classes of ion channel olfactory receptors, including ones that are much more complex and much more specific than those of the jumping bristletail.
    Jordana Cepelewicz, Wired, 27 June 2021
  • Another shelf in the toolkit [could have] say, different payloads—enzymes or ion channels that could be used to alter activity, or gene-editing enzymes that would correct a mutation.
    Kelly Servick, Science | AAAS, 4 Feb. 2020
  • Through experimentation, Liu and Benner discovered that the ion channels of these crest cells were sensitive to temperature.
    Susan Scutti, CNN, 10 Oct. 2017
  • Sydney Funnel Web spider venom contains a compound known as atracotoxin, a highly toxic ion channel inhibitor.
    Tim MacWelch, Outdoor Life, 11 Nov. 2019
  • The tiny gap between two myelin segments exposes a one-micron section of bare axon where ion channels that generate electrical impulses become concentrated.
    R. Douglas Fields, Scientific American, 12 Mar. 2020
  • The catechins are responsible for activating a potassium ion channel called KCNQ5.
    Chris Smith, BGR, 14 Mar. 2021
  • The respiratory muscles probably have about a hundred different ion channels that are ultimately responsible for normal contraction and relaxation of respiratory muscles.
    Mark Lieber, CNN, 28 Mar. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ion channel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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