Electric and magnetic fields inside neurons and their impact upon the cytoskeletal microtubules Danko Dimchev Georgiev 1, 2 1 Division Of Electron Microscopy, Medical University Of Varna, Bulgaria 2 Department Of Emergency Medicine, Bregalnitsa Street 3, Varna, Bulgaria If we want to better understand how the microtubules can translate and input the information carried by the electrophysiologic impulses that enter the brain cortex, a detailed investigation of the local electromagnetic field structure is needed. In this paper are assessed the electric and the magnetic field strengths in different neuronal compartments. The calculated results are verified via experimental data comparison. It is shown that the magnetic field is too weak to input information to microtubules and no Hall effect, respectively QHE is realistic. Local magnetic flux density is less than 1/ of the Earth’s magnetic field that’s why any magnetic 300 signal will be suffocated by the surrounding noise. In contrast the electric field carries biologically important information and acts upon voltage-gated transmembrane ion channels that control the neuronal action potential. If mind is linked to subneuronal processing of information in the brain microtubules then microtubule interaction with the local electric field, as input source of information is crucial. The intensity of the electric field is estimated to be 10V/m inside the neuronal cytoplasm however the details of the tubulin-electric field interaction are still unknown. A novel hypothesis stressing on the tubulin C-termini intraneuronal function is presented replacing the current flawed models (Tuszynski 2003, Mershin 2003, Hameroff 2003, Porter 2003) presented at the Quantum Mind II Conference held at Tucson, Arizona, 15-19 March 2003, that are shown in this presentation to be biologically and physically inconsistent. 1 Foreword...............................................................................4 Neurobiology.........................................................................5 Brain cortex structure ...........................................................5 Electromagnetic sensory input to the cortex...........................6 Neuronal morphology ...........................................................8 The neuronal cytoskeleton..................................................12 Electrodynamics..................................................................16 Right-handed coordinate systems.......................................16 Vectors..............................................................................17 Electric field .......................................................................18 Physical and vector fluxes ..................................................20 Electric current...................................................................21 Magnetic field.....................................................................23 Electromagnetic induction...................................................26 Maxwell’s equations ...........................................................27 Electromagnetic fields in vivo..............................................31 Neuronal membranes as excitable units ..............................31 Cable equation and dendritic modeling................................33 Electric field in dendrites.....................................................36 Electric field structure under dendritic spines .......................41 Electric currents in dendrites...............................................43 Magnetic field in dendrites ..................................................44 Electromagnetic field in soma .............................................45 2 Axonal morphophysiology...................................................46 The Hodgkin-Huxley model.................................................48 Magnetic field in axons.......................................................52 Electric field in axons..........................................................53 Implications for microtubule function...................................54 No Hall effect in microtubules.................................................54 Microtubule lattice structure....................................................58 Problems in the ferroelectric model of microtubules...............60 GTP hydrolysis and dynamic instability..................................63 The importance of the water microenvironment .....................65 Tubulin C-termini biological function.......................................68 Post-translational modification of tubulin tails.........................71 Tubulin tail defects and cerebral pathology............................73 Processing of information by brain microtubules....................73 Elastic and piezoelectric properties of microtubules...............77 Discussion..............................................................................77 References..........................................................................79 3 Foreword The realization of this project was for the sake of elucidating the mechanisms of inputting the sensory information carried by the membrane potentials that enter the brain cortex and constructing biologically feasible model of subneuronal microtubule based processing of information. The electric currents are relevant stimuli eliciting conscious experience like memorization of past events (Wilder Penfield, 1954a; 1954b; 1955) and are used to restore the visual image perception in blind man via implanted in the occipital cortex electrodes linked to bionic eye-camera (Dobelle, 2000). The link between the EM field and the cytoskeletal microtubules however was not thoroughly understood. Indeed in the current models presented at the Quantum Mind II Conference, held at Tucson, Arizona, 15-19 March 2003, have been found severe biological and physical inconsistencies. The ferroelectric model (Tuszynski, 2003; Mershin, 2003) leads to extremely high electric field strength needed to polarize microtubules and does not take into account that the suggested α − β electron hopping leads to conformational transitions that assemble - disassemble the microtubule. The same error is found in the Orch OR model (Hameroff, 2003a; 2003b) plus additional experimentally disproved predictions about the microtubule lattice, and too slow protein dynamics (25ms). The third model predicting topologically stabilized quantum states and anyons suggested by Porter (2003) depends on the magnetic field strength that is responsible for putative quantum Hall effect in the 2D electron layers presented on the microtubule surface. This idea is not realizable in vivo because of the extremely small magnetic field strength inside neurons assessed to be in the range 10–10 - 107 tesla and because of the millikelvin temperatures needed for QHE. In addition there is little or no data in the presented models how exactly microtubule conformations produce biologically important effects inside neurons. 4 Neurobiology Brain cortex structure The brain cortex is the main residence of consciousness. All sensory stimuli are realized only when they reach the brain cortex and not before that! Nieuwenhuys (1994) outlines the origin and evolutionary development of the neocortex. A cortical formation is lacking in amphibians, but a simple three-layered cortex is present throughout the pallium of reptiles. In mammals, two three-layered cortical structures, i.e. the prepiriform cortex and the hippocampus, are separated from each other by a six-layered neocortex. Still small in marsupials and insectivores, this "new" structure attains amazing dimensions in anthropoids and cetaceans. Neocortical neurons can be allocated to one of two basic categories: pyramidal and nonpyramidal cells. The pyramidal neurons form the principal elements in neocortical circuitry, accounting for at least 70% of the total neocortical population. The evolutionary development of the pyramidal neurons can be traced from simple, "extraverted" neurons in the amphibian pallium, via pyramid- like neurons in the reptilian cortex to the fully developed neocortical elements designated by Cajal as "psychic cells". Typical mammalian pyramidal neurons have the following eight features in common: (1) spiny dendrites, (2) a stout radially oriented apical dendrite, forming (3) a terminal bouquet in the most superficial cortical layer, (4) a set of basal dendrites, (5) an axon descending to the subcortical white matter, (6) a number of intracortical axon collaterals, (7) terminals establishing synaptic contacts of the round vesicle/asymmetric variety, and (8) the use of the excitatory aminoacids glutamate and/or aspartate as their neurotransmitter. The pyramidal neurons constitute the sole output and the largest input system of the neocortex. They form the principal targets of the axon collaterals of other pyramidal neurons, as well as of the endings of the main axons of cortico-cortical neurons. 5 Indeed, the pyramidal neurons constitute together a continuous network extending over the entire neocortex, justifying the generalization: the neocortex communicates first and foremost within itself! The neurons from different layers communicate via axo-dendritic synapses, which are chemical informational junctions that transfer information via neuromediator molecules. The neuromediator molecules released from the axonal terminal under depolarization (membrane firing; incoming electric impulse) bind to postsynaptic (dendritic) ion channels, modulate their ion conductivity and generate again electric impulses. Thus the electromagnetic events are essential in neuronal functioning, informational transfer and processing. Electromagnetic sensory input to the cortex The experiments with implanting electrodes directly into the brain cortex suggest that the cortex is the residence for conscious experience. This notion is well supported with clinical data. William Dobelle, M.D. (2000) has helped a blind man to see again using electrodes implanted into his brain and connected to a tiny television camera mounted on a pair of glasses. Although he does not "see" in the conventional sense, he can make out the outlines of objects, large letters and numbers on a contrasting background, and can use the direct digital input to operate a computer. The man, identified only as Jerry, has been blind since age 36 after a blow to the head. Now 64, he volunteered for the study and got a brain implant in 1978. There has been no infection or rejection in the past 24 years. 6 Scientists have been working since 1978 to develop and improve the software that enables Jerry to use the device as a primitive visual system. Jerry’s “eye” consists of a tiny television camera and an ultrasonic distance sensor mounted on a pair of eyeglasses. Both devices communicate with a small computer, carried on his hip, which highlights the edges between light and dark areas in the camera image. It then tells an adjacent computer to send appropriate signals to an array of 68 small platinum electrodes on the surface of Jerry's brain, through wires entering his skull behind his right ear. The electrodes stimulate certain brain cells, making Jerry perceive dots of light, which are known as phosphenes. Jerry gets white phosphenes on a black background. With small numbers of phosphenes you have (the equivalent of) a time and temperature sign at a bank. As you get larger and larger numbers of phosphenes, you go up to having a sports stadium scoreboard. If he is walking down a hall, the doorway appears as a white frame on a dark background. Jerry demonstrated by walking across a room to pull a woolly hat off a wall where it had been taped, took a few steps to a mannequin and correctly put the hat on its head. A reproduction of what Jerry sees showed crosses on a video screen that changed from black to white when the edge of an object passed behind them on the screen. Jerry can read two-inch tall letters at a distance of five feet. And he can use a computer, thanks to some input from his 8-year-old son, Marty. "When an object passes by the television camera ... I see dots of light. Or when I pass by it," Jerry says. The system works by detecting the edges of objects or letters. Jerry, currently the only user of the latest system, must move his head slightly to scan what he is looking at. He has the equivalent of 20/400 vision - about the same as a severely nearsighted person - in a narrow field. Although the relatively small electrode array produces tunnel vision, the patient is also able to navigate in unfamiliar environments including the New York City subway system. 7 Another interesting fact is that lesions in the primary visual cortex cause amaurosis corticalis - a condition with decreased visual acuity or even blindness, but with normal pupillar reactions i.e. although there is subcortical neural processing of information, it is not realized because it does not enter the cortex. It can also be concluded that relevant stimulus for the cortical neural cells is the membrane potential, which is then converted into specific quantum states if the Q-mind hypothesis proves true! Neuronal morphology The morphology of a single neuron is relatively simple. In this study is presented a hippocampal pyramidal CA3 (cornu ammonis 3 region) neuron that is typical cortical pyramidal neuron. The neuron has body called soma and two types of projections: dendrites that input electrophysiologic information and axon branching into axonal collaterals that output information via neuromediator release (exocytosis) under membrane firing (depolarization). Fig. 1 Structure of hippocampal CA3 neuron. AD, apical dendrites; BD, basal dendrites; S, soma; AX, axon. From Eichler West et al. (1998). 8 When cortical pyramidal cells are stained using the immunohistochemical methods we observe that long apical dendrites are extended toward the surface cortical layer and basal dendrites are extended in all directions in the area adjacent to the soma. Dendrites can be thought of as extensions of the cell body with maximal length ~ 1-2 mm in the largest neurons (Fiala & Harris, 1999), which provide increased surface area at much lower cell volumes. For example, 97% of the surface area of a motor neuron (excluding the axon) is dendritic (Ulfhake & Kellerth, 1981). The dendrites have 3.7x105 µm2 of surface area while occupying only 3x105 µm3. To provide an equivalent surface, a spherical cell body would be 340 µm in diameter and consume 2x107 µm3. The fact that 80% of the surface area of proximal dendrites of motor neurons are covered with synapses (Kellerth et al., 1979) suggests that this increased surface area is indeed valuable for increasing the number of inputs to a neuron. The most common synaptic specializations of dendrites are simple spines. Spines are protrusions from the dendrite of usually no more than 2 µm, often ending in a bulbous head attached to the dendrite by a narrow stalk or neck. Spine heads usually have diameter ~ 0.6 µm; when this diameter is exceeded we speak about mushroom spines. The spines are usually pedunculated (i.e. they have narrow neck) but sessile spines with no neck are also known. The total spine length for CA1 pyramidal neuron is 0.2-2µm, neck diameter 0.04-0.5µm, neck length 0.1-2µm, total spine volume 0.004-0.6µm3, total surface area of a single spine 0.1-4µm2, postsynaptic density (PSD) area 0.01-0.5µm2. Neurons are classified as spiny, sparsely spiny, and nonspiny (or smooth) according to the density of simple spines on their dendrites (Peters & Jones, 1984). Such a classification is complicated by the fact that different dendrites of a given neuron may exhibit widely different spine densities (Feldman & Peters, 1978). Even along the length of a dendritic segment, spine densities can vary widely. Nominally nonspiny dendrites often exhibit a few simple spines. 9 Table I Dendrites in rat CA1 pyramidal cell Dendritic Number of Proximal Branch Distal Dendrite type dendrites diameter points diameter extend Basal 5 1µm 30 0.5-1µm 130µm dendrites Stratum 1 31µm 30 0.25-1µm 110µm radiatum Stratum 15 0.25-1µm 500µm moleculare The cytoskeleton of dendrites is composed of microtubules, neurofilaments, and actin filaments. Microtubules are long, thin structures, approximately 25 nm in diameter, oriented to the longitudinal axis of the dendrite. In regions of the dendrite free of large organelles, they are found in a regular array at a density of 50-150 µm–2. Microtubules are typically spaced 80-200 nm apart, except in places where mitochondria or other organelles squeeze in between them. Microtubules are the “railroad tracks” of the cell and they play an important role in the transport of mitochondria and other organelles (Overly et al., 1996). The cell body (soma) is the trophic center of the neuron and in CA1 neuron has diameter ~ 21µm. The cell body (soma) contains the nucleus and the principal protein synthetic machinery of the neuron. Axons have essentially no ability to synthesize protein, since they do not contain ribosomes or significant amounts of RNA. Thus, axons depend entirely on proteins produced in the cell body, which are delivered into the axon by important transport processes. Dendrites do contain small amounts of both mRNA and ribosomes, and this protein synthetic machinery is thought to play an important role in dendritic function, but most of the proteins that are present in dendrites are transported from the cell body. 10