Surface charges on membranes.

The equations of membrane potential developed by Kobatake and coworkers have been applied to the literature data on the resting membrane potential of the crayfish and Myxicola axons to derive values for the surface charge density present on the axon membranes. Some shortcomings of the method are briefly discussed. The value for the surface charge density derived for the squid axon membrane agreed with a similar value derived from measurements of shifts in Na and/or potassium conductance-voltage relations following changes in the concentration of calcium in the solutions bathing the axons.