Related papers: Nerves and Anesthesia: A physics perspective on me…
The Hodgkin-Huxley model of nerve pulse propagation relies on ion currents through specific resistors called ion channels. We discuss a number of classical thermodynamic findings on nerves that are not contained in this classical theory.…
The accepted model for nerve pulse propagation in biological membranes seems insufficient. It is restricted to dissipative electrical phenomena and considers nerve pulses exclusively as a microscopic phenomenon. A simple thermodynamic model…
The textbook picture of nerve activity is that of a propagating voltage pulse driven by electrical currents through ion channel proteins, which are gated by changes in voltage, temperature, pressure or by drugs. All function is directly…
It is known that the action of general anesthetics is proportional to their partition coefficient in lipid membranes (Meyer-Overton rule). This solubility is, however, directly related to the depression of the temperature of the melting…
Native membranes of biological cells display melting transitions of their lipids at a temperature of 10-20 degrees below body temperature. Such transitions can be observed in various bacterial cells, in nerves, in cancer cells, but also in…
Nerves are frequently stretched during movement. We investigate here the effect of stretch on nerve excitability within the framework of the soliton theory. This thermodynamic theory for nerve pulse propagation relies on the presence of a…
In the electromechanical theory of nerve stimulation, the nerve impulse consists of a traveling region of solid membrane in a liquid environment. Therefore, the free energy necessary to stimulate a pulse is directly related to the free…
The action potential is widely considered a purely electrical phenomenon. However, one also finds mechanical and thermal changes that can be observed experimentally. In particular, nerve membranes become thicker and axons contract. The…
General anesthetics are known to cause depression of the freezing point of transitions in biomembranes. This is a consequence of ideal mixing of the anesthetic drugs in the membrane fluid phase and exclusion from the solid phase. Such a…
Although more than 150 years have past since the discovery of general anesthetics, how they precisely work remains a mystery. We propose a novel unitary mechanism of general anesthesia verifiable by experiments. In the proposed mechanism,…
In the recent years we have shown that cylindrical biological membranes such as nerve axons under physiological conditions are able to support stable electromechanical pulses called solitons. These pulses share many similarities with the…
Biological membranes mainly consist of lipids and proteins. While the proteins have many functions as single molecules, the membrane as a whole displays physical properties that cannot be explained on the single molecule level. For example,…
It is suggested that the propagation of the action potential is accompanied by an axoplasmic pressure pulse propagating in the axoplasm along the axon length. The pressure pulse stretch-modulates voltage-gated Na (Nav) channels embedded in…
It has long been known that there is no measurable heat production associated with the nerve pulse. Rather, one finds that heat production is biphasic, and a heat release during the first phase of the action potential is followed by the…
In the proximity of melting transitions of artificial and biological membranes fluctuations in enthalpy, area, volume and concentration are enhanced. This results in domain formation, changes of the elastic constants, changes in…
This paper attempts to review our studies on the propagation of signals in nerves over the past decade. The need for interdisciplinary studies is stressed that helps to understand the physical mechanisms of coupling the electrical,…
We suggest that the propagation of the action potential is driven by a pressure pulse propagating in the axoplasm along the axon length. The pressure pulse mechanically activates Na ion channels embedded in the axon membrane. This…
We postulate that consciousness is intrinsically connected to quantum spin since the latter is the origin of quantum effects in both Bohm and Hestenes quantum formulisms and a fundamental quantum process associated with the structure of…
Investigations of nerve activity have focused predominantly on electrical phenomena. Nerves, however, are thermodynamic systems, and changes in temperature and in the dimensions of the nerve can also be observed during the action potential.…
How can a collection of motile cells, each generating contractile nematic stresses in isolation, become an extensile nematic at the tissue-level? Understanding this seemingly contradictory experimental observation, which occurs irrespective…