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<h1>The role of K+ and Na+ in the H3O2- battery</h1><p>Johan Nygren</p><p><a href="mailto:johanngrn@gmail.com">johanngrn@gmail.com</a></p><p>ABSTRACT: The role of K+ and Na+ in the cell is to displace H+, favouring water-splitting. Gels inherently separate water into its conjugate ions H+ and OH-, water in a gel is organized into H3O2- that excludes H+. The act of a gel forming to begin with involves physical separation of H+ and OH-. K+ is selectively accumulated in the cell by adsorption, contributing to further separation of the ionic components of the cell-water. Na+ has a similar role extracellularly, it substitutes H+ in the cation “cloud” that is electrostatically bound to the cell. This machinery for separating OH- from H+ favours water catalysis, 4 OH- → 2 H2O + O2 + 4 e-, the “engine” of life.</p><h2>The cell is a water battery, an introduction</h2><p>Gels selectively exclude hydrogen ions relative to hydroxide ions, and do so because filaments act as a scaffold around which water can organize into a "gel-phase", chemically H3O2-, OH- + H2O. The filament scaffold “charges” water into an anode, H3O2- (Pollack, 2014). Potassium ions favour the gel-phase of the cell, by allosterically promoting the resting conformation of cell proteins along with ATP (Moore, 1908; Scheffer, 1928; Ling, 1952, 1965; Nasanov, 1962; Matveev, 2006). K+ supports the ability of the cell to “charge” water into an anode. The role of sodium ions is at the other end of the electrical potential of the cell, the cathode. Na+ substitutes the hydrogen ions in the cation “cloud” surrounding the cell that would neutralize the electric discharge of the cell. The role of Na+ is to further separate the ionic components of the cell-water that have been “torn apart” by the K+-protein matrix.</p><h2>Cell depolarization splits water to release electrons</h2><p>The reason a gel forms is because a filament matrix, architecturally, pulls water apart. Gels are a result of an inherent water-splitting ability in the physical architecture of the filament scaffold it organizes around. <em>The act of the gel forming to begin with, is the first half of water catalysis.</em> If the gel collapses, because of an architectural change in the scaffold, the second half of the reaction can take place. The hydroxide ions, that have been physically isolated from their hydrogen ion counterparts, will react with one another, forming H2O2 + 2 electrons. Electricity. The H2O2 then decays into H2O and O2, the full chemical reaction, 4 OH- → 2 H2O + O2 + 4 e-.</p><h2>The relationship between H+ and K+</h2><p>Within the cell, OH- is pairing, electrostatically, with K+ instead of H+. The H+ that is displaced to the extracellular space, is further substituted by Na+. The role of K+ and Na+ is to physically separate the ionic components of the cell-water, favouring water catalysis, 4 OH- → 2 H2O + O2 + 4 e-. This is achieved by displacing H+ both intracellularly, with K+, and extracellularly with Na+.</p><p>This explains why extracellular acidosis leads to a release of K+ from cells, and conversely, why hyperkalemia leads to exit of H+ from cells, resulting in intracellular alkalosis. The K+ and H+ are competing, electrostatically, to be the conjugate cation of the gel-phase water, H3O2-. It is the substitution of H+ for K+ that allows the cell to use hydroxide ions as fuel.</p><h2>The role of Na+ ions as a substitute to H+</h2><p>Na+ is an abundant cation in the natural environment, and electrostatically an ideal substitute for H+. The cell selectively adsorbs K+ over Na+, so the role of Na+ is to displace H+ extracellularly.</p><p>The H+ that is excluded from the gel-phase of water wants to remain locked to the gel. If it is not removed, it will tend to neutralize the water catalysis, 4 H+ + 4 e- + O2=2 H2O. If Na+ ions step in and substitute H+ as the conjugate cation of the gel-phase cell, the electric discharge from depolarization will reorient its electron current to other cathodes. The depolarization will then burn hydroxide ions (in the reaction 4 OH-=2 H2O + O2 + 4 e-) without burning the conjugate hydrogen ions, freeing the electric current to do other types of work. The H+ that is left over is then free to leave the body via the urine, explaining the acidity of urine.</p><h2>Conclusion</h2><p>The cell needs to be able to exclude H+ in order to split water and release electric current. It also needs to be able to selectively polarize and depolarize water from gel-phase to liquid phase, to trigger the water catalysis, and achieves this with allosteric regulator K+, under the control of ATP. Having very low extracellular K+ lets K+ leave and withdraw its allosteric effects during depolarization. It also needs to displace H+ extracellularly from the cation “cloud” that surrounds the cell, and does this using Na+. This prevents H+ from neutralizing the reaction 4 OH-=2 H2O + O2 + 4 e-, the “engine” of life. The cell uses K+ and Na+ to separate H+ from OH-, favouring water catalysis.</p><h2>Synopsis, the cell uses Na+ and K+ to turn water into fuel</h2><p>To burn hydroxide ions, the cell needs to be able to exclude hydrogen ions both from the intracellular and near-extracellular medium. This is achieved by a protein scaffold to favour the gel-phase of water, H3O2-, and, cations that substitute H+. The cell also needs to be able to switch between a charged state, hydroxide ions waiting to be used, and the discharging state, ongoing burning of hydroxide ions. Since the cell relies on the same cation to promote the charged state and to exclude hydrogen ions intracellularly, K+, it also needs to be able to withdraw K+ from the intracellular space, and for that it needs a second cation to exclude hydrogen ions from the near-extracellular space, Na+.</p><h2>References</h2><ul><li>Pollack, G. H. (2014). Cell electrical properties: reconsidering the origin of the electrical potential.Cell Biology International, 39(3), 237–242. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbin.10382</li><li>Moore, B., Roaf, H. E., & Knowles, R. E. (1908). The effects of Variations in the Inorganic Salts and theReactivity of the External Medium upon the Nutrition, Growth, and Cell-division in Plants and Animals.The Biochemical journal, 3(6–8), 279–312.7. https://doi.org/10.1042/bj0030279Ernst.</li><li>E. und Scheffer, L.: Untersuchungen über Muskelkontraktion Mitt. VIII. Die Rolle des Kaliums in der Kontraktion. 1928 Pflügers Arch. Ges. Physiol.</li><li>Ling, G.N. (1952) The role of phosphate in the maintenance of the resting potential and selective ionic accumulation in living cells. In Phosphorus Metabolism Vol 2 (W.D. McElroy and B. Glass, eds). Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, p. 748–795.</li><li>Ling, G.N. (1965), THE PHYSICAL STATE OF WATER IN LIVING CELL AND MODEL SYSTEMS*.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 125: 401-417.doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1965.tb45406.x</li><li>Nasonov, D.N., Local Reaction of Protoplasm and Gradual Excitation (English Transl. by Halpern,Y.S.), National Science Foundation, available at Office of Technical Services, US Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., 1962.</li><li>Matveev, Vladimir. (2006). Protoreaction of protoplasm. Cellular and molecular biology (Noisy-le-Grand, France). 51. 715-23. 10.1170/T680.</li></ul>