Theoretically, a recognized member of the modern state system possessing formal sovereignty and occupied by a people who see themselves as a single, united nation. Most nations and states aspire to parlance, nation-state is used as a synonym for country or state.
In biology, depolarization is a decrease in the absolute value of a cell's membrane potential. Thus, changes in membrane voltage in which the membrane potential becomes less positive or less negative are both depolarizations.
The opening and closing of ion channels can induce a departure from the resting potential. This is called a depolarization if the interior voltage becomes less negative (say from â70 mV to â60 mV), or a hyperpolarization if the interior voltage becomes more negative (say from â70 mV to â80 mV).