Thermodynamic implications of high Q₁₀ of thermoTRP channels in living cells

Abstract

The activity of thermo-transient receptor potential (TRP) channels is highly dependent on temperature, and thus thermo-TRP reactions have a high temperature coefficient Q₁₀. In thermodynamics, a high value of Q₁₀ indicates the existence of a large activation energy (i.e., a large enthalpy) over a short period during the transition process between the closed and open states of the channels. The Gibbs free energy equation shows that a large entropy is required to compensate for this large enthalpy and permit activation of the channels, suggesting a large conformational change of the channels. These large values of enthalpy and entropy seem to be a match for the values of the unfolding process of globular proteins. We outline these thermodynamic issues in thermo-TRPs.