Optical stimulation has enabled important advances in the study of brain function and other biological processes, and holds promise for medical applications ranging from hearing restoration to cardiac pace making. In particular, pulsed laser stimulation using infrared wavelengths >1.5 μm has therapeutic potential based on its ability to directly stimulate nerves and muscles without any genetic or chemical pre-treatment. However, the mechanism of infrared stimulation has been a mystery, hindering its path to the clinic. Here we show that infrared light excites cells through a novel, highly general electrostatic mechanism. Infrared pulses are absorbed by water, producing a rapid local increase in temperature. This heating reversibly alters the electrical capacitance of the plasma membrane, depolarizing the target cell. This mechanism is fully reversible and requires only the most basic properties of cell membranes. Our findings underscore the generality of pulsed infrared stimulation and its medical potential.

Voltage sensors containing the charged S4 membrane segment display a gating charge vs. voltage ( Q–V ) curve that depends on the initial voltage. The voltage-dependent phosphatase (Ci-VSP), which does not have a conducting pore, shows the same phenomenon and the Q–V recorded with a depolarized initial voltage is more stable by at least 3 RT . The leftward shift of the Q–V curve under prolonged depolarization was studied in the Ci-VSP by using electrophysiological and site-directed fluorescence measurements. The fluorescence shows two components: one that traces the time course of the charge movement between the resting and active states and a slower component that traces the transition between the active state and a more stable state we call the relaxed state. Temperature dependence shows a large negative enthalpic change when going from the active to the relaxed state that is almost compensated by a large negative entropic change. The Q–V curve midpoint measured for pulses that move the sensor between the resting and active states, but not long enough to evolve into the relaxed states, show a periodicity of 120°, indicating a 3 ₁₀ secondary structure of the S4 segment when determined under histidine scanning. We hypothesize that the S4 segment moves as a 3 ₁₀ helix between the resting and active states and that it converts to an α-helix when evolving into the relaxed state, which is most likely to be the state captured in the crystal structures.

It is now well established that the voltage-sensing S4 segment in voltage-dependent ion channels undergoes a conformational change in response to varying membrane potential. However, the magnitude of the movement of S4 relative to the membrane and the rest of the protein remains controversial. Here, by using histidine scanning mutagenesis in the Shaker K channel, we identified mutants I241H (S1 segment) and I287H (S2 segment) that generate inward currents at hyperpolarized potentials, suggesting that these residues are part of a hydrophobic plug that separates the water-accessible crevices. Additional experiments with substituted cysteine residues showed that, at hyperpolarized potentials, both I241C and I287C can spontaneously form disulphide and metal bridges with R362C, the position of the first charge-carrying residue in S4. These results constrain unambiguously the closed-state positions of the S4 segment with respect to the S1 and S2 segments, which are known to undergo little or no movement during gating. To satisfy these constraints, the S4 segment must undergo an axial rotation of ≈180° and a transmembrane (vertical) movement of ≈6.5 Å at the level of R362 in going from the open to the closed state of the channel, moving the gating charge across a focused electric field.