Related papers: Similarities between action potentials and acousti…
Electric pulses in biological cells (action potentials) have been reported to be accompanied by a propagating cell-surface deformation with a nano-scale amplitude. Typically, this cell surface is covered by external layers of polymer…
The excitation of many cells and tissues is associated with cell mechanical changes. The evidence presented herein corroborates that single cells deform during an action potential (AP). It is demonstrated that excitation of plant cells…
It is a common incident in nature, that two waves or pulses run into each other head-on. The outcome of such an event is of special interest, because it allows conclusions about the underlying physical nature of the pulses. The present…
This contribution briefly reviews some recent work demonstrating the partial breakdown of the colloidal fluid <--> atomic fluid analogy. The success of liquid state theory for atomic fluids stems in part from the van der Waals picture,…
We show that the action potential signals generated inside axons are reaction-diffusion solitons or reaction-diffusion waves, refuting the Hodgkin and Huxley hypothesis that action potentials propagate along axons with an elastic wave…
Excitable pulses are among the most widespread dynamical patterns that occur in many different systems, ranging from biological cells to chemical reactions and ecological populations. Traditionally, the mutual annihilation of two colliding…
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…
Complex interactions between cellular systems and their surrounding extracellular matrices are emerging as important mechanical regulators of cell functions such as proliferation, motility, and cell death, and such cellular systems are…
Lipid interfaces not only compartmentalize but also connect different reaction centers within a cell architecture. These interfaces have well defined specific heats and compressibilities, hence energy can propagate along them analogous to…
The origin of nonlinear responses in cells has been suggested to be crucial for various cell functions including the propagation of the nervous impulse. In physics nonlinear behavior often originates from phase transitions. Evidence for…
Gap junctions are channels in cell membranes allowing ions to pass directly between cells. They connect cells throughout the body, including heart myocytes, neurons, and astrocytes. Propagation mediated by gap junctions can be passive or…
Moir\'e lattices which consist of parallel but staggered periodic lattices have been extensively explored due to their salient physical properties, such as van Hove singularities[1, 2], commensurable incommensurable transitions[3],…
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…
We present a recent theory for nerve pulse propagation and anesthesia and argue that both nerve activity and the action of anesthetics can be understood on the basis of simple physical laws. It was found experimentally that biological…
Comprehending the nature of action potentials is fundamental to our understanding of the functioning of nervous systems in general. The ionic mechanisms underlying action potentials in the squid giant axon were first described by Hodgkin…
The organization of live cells to tissues is associated with the mechanical interaction between cells, which is mediated through their elastic environment. We model cells as spherical active force dipoles surrounded by an infinite elastic…
We present a theoretical study of wetting phenomena and interactions between liquid-vapor interfaces based on the density functional theory. The focus is mostly on the impact of long-range van der Waals interactions both within the fluid…
We demonstrate that pulses of linear physical systems, weakly perturbed by nonlinear dissipation, exhibit soliton-like behavior in fast collisions. The behavior is demonstrated for linear waveguides with weak cubic loss and for systems…
The free propagation of acoustic plane waves through cellular periodic materials is generally accompanied by a flow of mechanical energy across the adjacent cells. The paper focuses on the energy transport related to dispersive waves…
The Fluid Mosaic Model by Singer & Nicolson proposes that biological membranes consist of a fluid lipid layer into which integral proteins are embedded. The lipid membrane acts as a two-dimensional liquid in which the proteins can diffuse…