Introduction:

Voltage-gated Na+ and K+ channels have activation and inactivation gates that open and close depending on the intensity of the electric current flowing through the membrane when it is responding to a stimulus. During this brief moment, the membrane enters a refractory period that makes it insensitive to other stimuli.

Objective:

To prove that absolute and relative refractory periods occur as the action potential develops rather than after it has been completed, by means of a theoretical analysis based on the normal electrical functioning of voltage-gated Na+ and K+ channels.

Questioning:

Several texts and articles on physiology provide confusing and misleading definitions of absolute and relative refractory periods, since they don't consider the normal functioning of voltage-gated channels. Furthermore, the location they give to these periods in relation to the action potential is out-of-time and their duration remains uncertain.

Conclusion:

Absolute and relative refractory periods occur as the action potential develops rather than after it has been completed.

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