Page 138 - The Miracle in the Cell Membrane

The Miracle in the Cell Membrane

which the ions pass assume the form of liq uid pores in
the cell mem brane. In this way, some ions—par tic u lar ly
sodi um, potas si um, cal ci um and chlo ride—are per mit ted
to enter the cell.
One of the ion chan nels' most impor tant fea tures is
that they are capa ble of select ing dif fer ent ions. It is of
course extraor di na ry for one atom to recog nize anoth er
and per mit it to pass. It's impos si ble to imag ine that any
atoms assumed such a duty of their own accord, func -
tion ing like con scious door men with out ever mak ing a
mis take. It is also irra tion al to main tain that atoms assem -
bled flaw less ly by coin ci dence and gave rise to such a
vital func tion. Anyone with rea son and good con -
science will appre ci ate that the obvi ous order here is
the work of Allah, and that He is the sole Ruler of
all. As Allah reveals in the Qur'an, "He knows
every thing in the land and sea. No leaf falls
with out His know ing it. There is no seed
in the dark ness of the Earth, and noth -

Nerve cell
Despite such processes as
recognition and selection, the
passage of ions through the
channels takes place very quick-
ly. Indeed, ions are transported
so rapidly that the nerve cells
carry messages to any point in
the body in as little as 1/1000th
of a second.

Message-transmit-
ting molecules

Membrane channels

136