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One Figure Breaks a Century of Controversy: Returning to the Squid Experiment to See the True Nature of the Action Potential——A Re-examination of the Classic 1952 Hodgkin-Huxley-Katz Experiment

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2026-04-23

One Figure Breaks a Century of Controversy: Returning to the Squid Experiment to See the True Nature of the Action Potential——A Re-examination of the Classic 1952 Hodgkin-Huxley-Katz Experiment

Sun Zuodong

Today, setting aside complicated equations and layers of theoretical packaging, we return only to the source of it all—the original action potential waveform recorded by Hodgkin, Huxley, and Katz on the squid giant axon in 1952. 

1. The Truth of the Resting State: Potassium Ions Firmly Anchored Inside the Membrane

At the resting potential (-60mV), deduced from the original experimental data, potassium ions remain quietly fixed on the inner side of the cell membrane and do not move at all; the so-called resting potential is essentially a stationary dominant state of potassium ions, not the continuously leaking, energy-consuming equilibrium described in traditional theories. 

2. The Driving Force of Depolarization and Repolarization: Dominated by Potassium Ion Gating

The sharp rise and fall of the action potential are centered on potassium ions, with strictly symmetric ion movement: the rising phase (-40mV → +40mV) is characterized by sodium ions accelerating inward and potassium ions accelerating outward, driving the potential sharply upward; the falling phase (+40mV → -60mV) sees potassium ions accelerating inward and sodium ions accelerating outward, pulling the potential back to the resting baseline; the inflow and outflow correspond closely in timing and magnitude, forming the smooth, standard action potential curve.  

3. The Secret of the "Small Bump"

The inconspicuous “small bump” on the original waveform is the direct result of sodium ions entering and leaving slowly in small amounts while potassium ions remain motionless during the resting period; it naturally reflects the slight opening and closing of the elastic sieve-like channels under voltage change, and since only sodium ions move simply, a sharp bump appears rather than a parabola. 

4. A Concise, Closed, and Self-Consistent Narrative

Throughout the action potential process, potassium ions act as the leader and anchor: they maintain the resting potential by staying stationary on the inner membrane; upon stimulation, sodium and potassium ions move alternately to complete a full, symmetric potential cycle. This framework is completely faithful to the original waveform, without forced theoretical revisions—concise, closed, and highly self-consistent. 

5. Why Reexamine the Classic Theory?

Science advances not by clinging to established models, but by constantly approaching truth through the tension between experimental facts and theoretical explanation; we do not deny the greatness of the pioneers—their experiments started an era. But has the interpretation of their data, in the course of transmission, gradually deviated from the simpler story told by the waveform itself? 

This is not merely a debate about ion channels, but a question of how we understand the basic logic of electrical activity in life: Is it a messy superposition of ion flows, or an elegant order dominated by potassium ions with coordinated sodium-potassium movement?

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