Question

Sanshool, a compound found in Sichuan peppers, is used in making spicy Asian food. It is known to inhibit a subset of potassium leak channels involved in maintaining the resting membrane potential. What effect do you think sanshool would have on the membrane potential

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

In this specific scenario, the sanshool would cause the resting potential to elevate into less negative values thus making it easier to excite the neuron . In a standard scenario, the resting potential of neurons is about -70 mV and at the resting potential the concentration of ions is kept constant through Na+/K+ pumps.