Talk:Steady state (biochemistry)

Untitled
Cell membranes are very permeable to K+. This permeability is the main reason for the cell's electrical gradient

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 10 April 2019 and 14 June 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): AYang99. Peer reviewers: Azhou0.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 10:10, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Disputed
The cell membrane is actually 22x more permeable to K+ than Na+, when at resting potential. Furthermore, membrane potential is mostly a system in equilibrium, as the electrical potential gradient + osmolar concentration gradient = 0. It is only the slight leakage of ions through passive transport mechanisms, and the necessity to counter this with Na+-K+ ATPase pumps that very technically makes the maintenance of membrane potential a system in steady state, rather than true equilibrium. Regardless, membrane potential isn't the sole example of a steady state system in biology/biochemistry, though perhaps the first one that a student will encounter where the distinction is significant. I don't have time to rewrite the article now, but it's currently totally inaccurate. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.195.215.166 (talk) 05:09, 8 February 2007 (UTC).

I can confirm that this article is inaccurate. The permeability of Sodium is significantly Lower than permeability of Potassium. Additionally, the reference attached is not highly credible and does not support the article. Rawatenator (talk) 17:44, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

The use of "dynamic equilibrium" is wrong - it suggests dynamic equilibrium requires work, whereas dynamic equilibrium is also appropriate for describing chemical equilibrium of a reversible reaction, with no energy input.

Proposed Changes
Hello, I am planning to add more information to this page in the near future and I would like to share my outline to see if anyone has any suggestions for improvements. I plan to redefine steady state in biochemistry in broader terms than it is currently defined. In addition, I plan to provide a general explanation of steady-state as the maintenance of constant ionic/molecular concentrations in an organism that is different from its environment (essentially, homeostasis on molecular level). I plan to include subcategories of different examples of steady-state regulation in an organism. These examples include the regulation of blood glucose levels (including the regulatory mechanism of PFK-1 in glycolysis), ion concentrations across membranes, and blood lactate levels. I might also include a subcategory on constant amino acid levels in an organism if I find a sufficient amount of information on this topic. I am not yet sure of how I am going to utilize the material that is already written, but I might incorporate it into the subcategory about ion concentrations. Please leave any suggestions or ideas regarding how to further improve this article, or anything I should take note of! Thank you. AYang99 (talk) 10:26, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

Suggesting to correct the use of dynamic equilibrium. It does not require any energy input (e.g. a reversible reaction at chemical equilibrium is in dynamic equilibrium).