Q10: The Effect of Temperature on Ion Channel Kinetics

Synonyms

Temperature coefficient

Definition

The Q ₁₀ is a measure of the degree to which a biological process depends on temperature. It is defined as the ratio between the rate of a biological process at two temperatures separated by 10 °C. In the context of ion channels, it can be applied to the temperature dependence of the rate of channel opening and closing and to the dependence of maximum channel conductance on temperature.

Detailed Description

Mathematical Definition

The Q ₁₀ of a process is defined as

$$ {Q}_{10}=\frac{\mathrm{Rate}\ \mathrm{of}\ \mathrm{process}\ \mathrm{at}\ \mathrm{temperature}\ T+10{}^{\circ}\mathrm{C}}{\mathrm{Rate}\ \mathrm{of}\ \mathrm{process}\ \mathrm{at}\ \mathrm{temperature}\ T} $$

Usage

If the rate r of a process at temperature T is known, the rate at another temperature T ₁ can be estimated using

$$ r\left({T}_1\right)=r(T){Q}_{10}^{\left({T}_1-T\right)/10} $$

For example, in a model of an ion channel in the formalism used by Hodgkin and Huxley (1952...