The Ion Channels Textbook comprises three volumes that serve as a comprehensive reference for students, educators, and researchers. Ion channels, which are membrane proteins, play a crucial role in controlling the electrical characteristics of neurons and cardiac cells. They also facilitate the detection and response to sensory stimuli such as light, sound, odor, and taste, as well as the regulation of physical stimuli like temperature and pressure.

In non-excitable tissues, ion channels are essential for maintaining a proper salt balance necessary for homeostasis. These channels are situated on the cell’s surface membrane, enabling communication with the external environment, and on the membrane of intracellular organelles, allowing for the regulation of internal homeostasis. Ion channels are of paramount importance for human health and disease, serving as key targets for pharmaceutical interventions in conditions such as mental illness, heart disease, anesthesia, pain, and other clinical applications. The contemporary research methods employed in studying ion channels are both potent and varied, encompassing techniques ranging from single ion-channel measurements to animal models of ion channel diseases, as well as human clinical trials for ion channel-targeted drugs..