Chloride
Role in biology

Chloride has a major physiological significance, which includes regulation of osmotic pressure, electrolyte balance and acid-base homeostasis. Chloride is present in all body fluids, and is the most abundant extracellular anion which accounts for around one third of extracellular fluid 's tonicity.

Chloride is an essential electrolyte, playing a key role in maintaining cell homeostasis and transmitting action potentials in neurons. It can flow through chloride channels (including the GABA receptor) and is transported by KCC2 and NKCC2 transporters.

Chloride is usually (though not always) at a higher extracellular concentration, causing it to have a negative reversal potential (around −61 mV at 37 °C in a mammalian cell). Characteristic concentrations of chloride in model organisms are: in both E. coli and budding yeast are 10–200 mM (dependent on medium), in mammalian cells 5–100 mM and in blood plasma 100 mM.

The concentration of chloride in the blood is called serum chloride, and this concentration is regulated by the kidneys. A chloride ion is a structural component of some proteins; for example, it is present in the amylase enzyme. For these roles, chloride is one of the essential dietary mineral (listed by its element name chlorine). Serum chloride levels are mainly regulated by the kidneys through a variety of transporters that are present along the nephron. Most of the chloride, which is filtered by the glomerulus, is reabsorbed by both proximal and distal tubules (majorly by proximal tubule) by both active and passive transport.
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