an energy-consuming mechanism in cell membranes that transports sodium ions across the membrane, in exchange for potassium ions or other substances.
Origin
1960-65
Examples from the web for sodium pump
And they found that two proteins-a sodium channel and part of a sodium pump-arose slightly before the first multicellular animals.
sodium pump in Medicine
sodium pumpn. A biologic mechanism that uses metabolic energy stored in ATP to achieve active transport of sodium ions across a membrane, such as the cell membrane or the multicellular membranes that make up the walls of renal tubules.