A Quantitative Overview of Biophysical Forces Governing Neural Function

Abstract

The Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) model is the currently accepted formalism of neuronal excitability. However, the HH model does not capture a number of biophysical behaviors associated with action potentials or propagating nerve impulses. Physical mechanisms underlying these processes, such as reversible heat transfer and axonal swelling have been separately investigated and compartmentally modeled to indicate the nervous system is not purely electrical or biochemical. Rather, mechanical forces and principles of thermodynamics also govern neuronal excitability and signaling. To advance our understanding of neural function and dysfunction, compartmentalized analyses of electrical, chemical, and mechanical processes need to revaluated and integrated into more comprehensive theories. The present quantitative perspective is intended to broaden the awareness of known biophysical phenomena, which are often overlooked in neuroscience. By starting to consider the collective influence of the biophysical forces influencing neural function, new paradigms can be applied to the characterization and manipulation of nervous systems.

13 pages

References in corpus (6)

• Lipid Ion Channels
• Intramembrane Cavitation as a Predictive Bio-Piezoelectric Mechanism for Ultrasonic Brain Stimulation
• Cooperative Gating and Spatial Organization of Membrane Proteins through Elastic Interactions
• On the action potential as a propagating density pulse and the role of anesthetics
• Evidence for 2D Solitary Sound Waves in a Lipid Controlled Interface and its Biological Implications
• Periodic solutions and refractory periods in the soliton theory for nerves and the locust femoral nerve

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Mechanical Surface Waves Accompany Action Potential Propagation
• Electromechanical coupling of waves in nerve fibres
• The thermodynamic soliton theory of the nervous impulse and possible medical implications
• On solutions of a Boussinesq-type equation with amplitude-dependent nonlinearities: the case of biomembranes
• Electrothermal equivalent three-dimensional Finite Element Model of a single neuron
• The effect of stretching on nerve excitability
• On solutions of a Boussinesq-type equation with displacement-dependent nonlinearity: a soliton doublet
• Modelling of processes in nerve fibres at the interface of physiology and mathematics
• Mathematics of nerve signals
• Mechanical waves in myelinated axon wall
• Retina organoids: Window into the biophysics of neuronal systems
• Head-to-nerve analysis of electromechanical impairments of diffuse axonal injury
• Effects of nerve bundle geometry on neurotrauma evaluation
• The mechanical properties of nerves, the size of the action potential, and consequences for the brain
• On physical background of nerve pulse propagation: heat and energy