Analogous structural, electrical, mechanical, and optical features of blue phases and voltage-sensitive ion channels

The discovery of pseudocubical structures in Nav channels reveals similarities between voltage sensitive ion channels (VSICs) and chiral ferroelectric liquid crystals called blue phases. Like the excitable insulating "closed" phase of VSICs at high voltage, blue phases are dynamic structures that exist over a limited temperature range of tens of degrees and are highly sensitive to electric fields. Blue phases BPI and BPII are structures stacked in three dimensions with lattices of cubic symmetry.