Mineral Metabolism in Affective Disorders

Abstract

Physiological research has shown the fundamental importance of electrolytes in the functioning of the cell. According to the ionic theory, the resting and action potentials of nerve and muscle cells depend on potassium, sodium, chloride and other ions having a different concentration inside the cell to the concentration they have in the extracellular fluid. The cell membrane is freely permeable to potassium and chloride, but is much less permeable to sodium, and there is active transport of sodium which keeps the sodium concentration within the cell at about 1/10 of the concentration of sodium in the extracellular space. Because of this uneven distribution of sodium and the presence within the cell of impermeable anions (such as glutamic acid), potassium and chlorine are also unevenly divided between the cell and the extracellular fluid; potassium has a very high intracellular concentration and chlorine a low intracellular concentration compared to their concentration in the extracellular space.