A Qualitative, Molecular Model of the Nerve Impulse

The first event after a depolarizing pulse is the discharge of membrane 

Capacitance discharge is followed by the asymmetric gating currents. In our model they represent the removal of a pair of electrons from the (by rigorous formalism) superionic charge-transfer band to SMOS. Changes in the CT-band can be illustrated as follows  

The 2e leaves the CT band and enters SMOS. Upon removal of the electron pair from the CT band the CT couple dissociates and the phospholipid starts to undergo a phase transition from induced liquid crystalline state to crystalline state preconditioned by the unscreened, protonated phosphatidylserines. Concomitantly with the initiation of phospholipid phase transition the energy level of the holes in the CT band is elevated and the removed 2e cannot return to 

As is evident from the above we are concerning only the events taking place in the outer lipid monolayer of the axon membrane bilayer. Although the cytoplasmic leaflet under physiological conditions is involved, in our model we are assuming that most of the electronic activity resides in the outer half of the membrane bilayer. This assumption is supported by our 

The present model for nerve impulse resembles closely the exciton mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity, as put forward by Little and Ginzburg. Little s polymer consists of a polyene spine with polarizable dye side chains, the latter forming the exciton band. Ginzburg proposes high-temperature superconductivity to be found in thin metallic films placed between highly dielectric layers.  

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J. A. Virtanen and P. K. J. Kinnunen, A Qualitative, Molecular Model of the Nerve Impulse. Conductive Properties of Unsaturated Lipids, University of Helsinki Offset Press (1981). 

P. Kinnunen, J. Virtanen, A qualitative, molecular model of the nerve impulse Conductive properties of unsaturated, lyotropic liquid crystals, In F. Gutman, H. Keyzer (eds.) Modem Bioelectrochemistry, New York Plenum Press, (1986) 457. 

What we believe to be particularly important in the result [Eq. (52)] is that the impulse speed depends strongly on the sodium current activation rate. Thus by measuring the impulse speed we obtain information not only about passive electric characteristics of the nerve fiber but also about the dynamics of the molecular structures responsible for the fiber s activity. A more comprehensive comparison of the above theory with experiment, in particular with the computer-aided treatment of the H-H model carried out in Reference (24), is given elsewhere, in which theory modifications that are more adequate to the H-H model are also analyzed. It should be noted, besides, that qualitatively similar results were obtained by Rinzel and Keller who studied impulse propagation in a FitzHugh-Nagumo model (which takes into account the inertial nature of the variable in the same manner as it does potassium conductance). 

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