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# Why insulin drives potassium and phosphate into cells
That K+ is needed for protein synthesis is known since 1960s (Lubin, 1964), together with phosphate in the form of ATP it forms an electrochemical circuit that powers protein. Insuling upregulates metabolic machinery which requires ATP and K+ - the electrochemical battery of protein. H+ released from water adsorbed onto the protein is moved onto ATP within the protein (at the ATP-protein binding side), and it is substituted by K+ externally. Both phosphate and K+ influx is neededed for this, so insulin upregulates influx of both. Water adsorbs as 2-3 atoms thick ice-like solid phase, and H2O in it can exchange H+ with the surrounding bulk water (auto-ionization) or the site of adsorbtion (acid-base chemistry). The H+ is mobile while OH- left in adsorbate is not, and can spread out by diffusion (a diffusion potential that generates an electric field). At protein it diffuses into the protein onto the ATP-protein binding site, where ATP is fully protonated. ATP hydrolysis releases the bound H+ - together with O2 the cathode in the electrochemical circuit of protein: 4 H+ + 4 e- + O2 -> 2 H2O. On the outside of the adsorbaed water, K+ is electrostatically bound to the OH-. The electric field on the outside (between OH- and K+) polarizes the surrounding water just above the adsorate so that it does not dissolve particles (Nygren, 2026).
# Links
Lubin, M., & Ennis, H. L. (1964). On the role of intracellular potassium in protein synthesis. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Specialized Section on Nucleic Acids and Related Subjects, 80(4), 614 631. https://doi.org/10.1016/0926-6550(64)90306-8
Nygren, J (2026). Diffusion potential of autoionization
at adsorbate-liquid interface in polar liquids. Phanerography Certification. BTC/BSV/ETH/ETC/LTC/DOGE/XTZ/EOS.
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