Model electrical activity of neuron under electric field

2018 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 1585-1598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Ma ◽  
Ge Zhang ◽  
Tasawar Hayat ◽  
Guodong Ren
Author(s):  
Shreyas Punacha ◽  
Sebastian Berg ◽  
Anupama Sebastian ◽  
Valentin I. Krinski ◽  
Stefan Luther ◽  
...  

Rotating spiral waves of electrical activity in the heart can anchor to unexcitable tissue (an obstacle) and become stable pinned waves. A pinned rotating wave can be unpinned either by a local electrical stimulus applied close to the spiral core, or by an electric field pulse that excites the core of a pinned wave independently of its localization. The wave will be unpinned only when the pulse is delivered inside a narrow time interval called the unpinning window (UW) of the spiral. In experiments with cardiac monolayers, we found that other obstacles situated near the pinning centre of the spiral can facilitate unpinning. In numerical simulations, we found increasing or decreasing of the UW depending on the location, orientation and distance between the pinning centre and an obstacle. Our study indicates that multiple obstacles could contribute to unpinning in experiments with intact hearts.


Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 549
Author(s):  
Vernon Cooray ◽  
Gerald Cooray ◽  
Marcos Rubinstein ◽  
Farhad Rachidi

Narrow Bipolar Pulses are generated by bursts of electrical activity in the cloud and these are referred to as Compact Intracloud Discharges (CID) or Narrow Bipolar Events in the current literature. These discharges usually occur in isolation without much electrical activity before or after the event, but sometimes they are observed to initiate lightning flashes. In this paper, we have studied the features of CIDs assuming that they consist of streamer bursts without any conducting channels. A typical CID may contain about 109 streamer heads during the time of its maximum growth. A CID consists of a current front of several nanosecond duration that travels forward with the speed of the streamers. The amplitude of this current front increases initially during the streamer growth and decays subsequently as the streamer burst continues to propagate. Depending on the conductivity of the streamer channels, there could be a low-level current flow behind this current front which transports negative charge towards the streamer origin. The features of the current associated with the CID are very different from those of the radiation field that it generates. The duration of the radiation field of a CID is about 10–20 μs, whereas the duration of the propagating current pulse associated with the CID is no more than a few nanoseconds in duration. The peak current of a CID is the result of a multitude of small currents associated with a large number of streamers and, if all the forward moving streamer heads are located on a single horizontal plane, the cumulative current that radiates at its peak value could be about 108 A. On the other hand, the current associated with an individual streamer is no more than a few hundreds of mA. However, if the location of the forward moving streamer heads are spread in a vertical direction, the peak current can be reduced considerably. Moreover, this large current is spread over an area of several tens to several hundreds of square meters. The study shows that the streamer model of the CID could explain the fine structure of the radiation fields present both in the electric field and electric field time derivative.


2003 ◽  
Vol 773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shalini Prasad ◽  
Mo Yang ◽  
Xuan Zhang ◽  
Yingchun Ni ◽  
Vladimir Parpura ◽  
...  

AbstractCharacterization of electrical activity of individual neurons is the fundamental step in understanding the functioning of the nervous system. Single cell electrical activity at various stages of cell development is essential to accurately determine in in-vivo conditions the position of a cell based on the procured electrical activity. Understanding memory formation and development translates to changes in the electrical activity of individual neurons. Hence, there is an enormous need to develop novel ways for isolating and positioning individual neurons over single recording sites. To this end, we used a 3x3 multiple microelectrode array system to spatially arrange neurons by applying a gradient AC field. We characterized the electric field distribution inside our test platform by using two dimensiona l finite element modeling (FEM) and determined the location of neurons over the electrode array. Dielectrophoretic AC fields were utilized to separate the neurons from the glial cells and to position the neurons over the electrodes. The neurons were obtained from 0-2-day-old rat (Sprague-Dawley) pups. The technique of using electric fields to achieve single neuron patterning has implications in neural engineering, elucidating a new and simpler method to develop and study neuronal activity as compared to conventional microelectrode array techniques.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Price ◽  
Earle Williams ◽  
Gal Elhalel ◽  
Dave Sentman

<p>Most electrical activity in vertebrates and invertebrates occurs at extremely low frequencies (ELF), with characteristic maxima below 50Hz.  The origin of these frequency maxima is unknown and remains a mystery.  We propose that over billions of years during the evolutionary history of living organisms on Earth, the natural electromagnetic resonant frequencies in the atmosphere, continuously generated by global lightning activity, provided the background electric fields for the development of cellular electrical activity.  In some animals the electrical spectrum is difficult to differentiate from the natural background atmospheric electric field produced by lightning.  In this paper we present evidence for the link between the natural ELF fields and those found in many living organisms, including humans.</p><p>Price, C., E. Williams, G., Elhalel and D. Sentman, 2020:  Natural ELF Fields in the Atmosphere and in Living Organisms, <em>Int. J. Biometeorology, </em>in press.</p>


Author(s):  
Shalini Prasad ◽  
Mo Yang ◽  
Xuan Zhang ◽  
Cengiz S. Ozkan ◽  
Mihrimah Ozkan

It is estimated that about 18 million people worldwide suffer from dementia and it is projected to increase to about 35 million by the year 2025. All types of dementia occur due to an aberration in memory retention and development, caused by malfunctioning neurons. Experimental investigation of the dynamics of biological networks is a fundamental step towards understanding how the nervous system works. Activity-dependant modification of synaptic strength is widely recognized as cellular basis of learning, memory and developmental plasticity. Understanding memory formation and development, thus translates to changes in the electrical activity of the neurons. It is not possible to achieve this understanding at a cellular level by in vivo studies. To map the changes in the electrical activity it is essential to conduct in-vitro studies on individual neurons. Hence there is an enormous need to develop novel ways for assembly of highly controlled neuronal networks. To this end, we used a 5 × 5 multiple microelectrode array system to spatially arrange neurons, by combination of applied DC and AC fields We characterized electric field distribution inside our test platform by using two dimensional finite element modeling (FEM). As the first stage in the formation of a neural network dielectrophoretic AC fields were used to position the neurons over the electrodes. We used DC electric field to control axon growth direction within the network. Applied electric field direction is found to be an important parameter for axon growth. Electrical impulses were recorded from the individual neurons in the network during positioning and network formation.


Author(s):  
G. F. Rempfer

In photoelectron microscopy (PEM), also called photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM), the image is formed by electrons which have been liberated from the specimen by ultraviolet light. The electrons are accelerated by an electric field before being imaged by an electron lens system. The specimen is supported on a planar electrode (or the electrode itself may be the specimen), and the accelerating field is applied between the specimen, which serves as the cathode, and an anode. The accelerating field is essentially uniform except for microfields near the surface of the specimen and a diverging field near the anode aperture. The uniform field forms a virtual image of the specimen (virtual specimen) at unit lateral magnification, approximately twice as far from the anode as is the specimen. The diverging field at the anode aperture in turn forms a virtual image of the virtual specimen at magnification 2/3, at a distance from the anode of 4/3 the specimen distance. This demagnified virtual image is the object for the objective stage of the lens system.


Author(s):  
R H. Selinfreund ◽  
A. H. Cornell-Bell

Cellular electrophysiological properties are normally monitored by standard patch clamp techniques . The combination of membrane potential dyes with time-lapse laser confocal microscopy provides a more direct, least destructive rapid method for monitoring changes in neuronal electrical activity. Using membrane potential dyes we found that spontaneous action potential firing can be detected using time-lapse confocal microscopy. Initially, patch clamp recording techniques were used to verify spontaneous electrical activity in GH4\C1 pituitary cells. It was found that serum depleted cells had reduced spontaneous electrical activity. Brief exposure to the serum derived growth factor, IGF-1, reconstituted electrical activity. We have examined the possibility of developing a rapid fluorescent assay to measure neuronal activity using membrane potential dyes. This neuronal regeneration assay has been adapted to run on a confocal microscope. Quantitative fluorescence is then used to measure a compounds ability to regenerate neuronal firing.The membrane potential dye di-8-ANEPPS was selected for these experiments. Di-8- ANEPPS is internalized slowly, has a high signal to noise ratio (40:1), has a linear fluorescent response to change in voltage.


Author(s):  
Patrick P. Camus

The theory of field ion emission is the study of electron tunneling probability enhanced by the application of a high electric field. At subnanometer distances and kilovolt potentials, the probability of tunneling of electrons increases markedly. Field ionization of gas atoms produce atomic resolution images of the surface of the specimen, while field evaporation of surface atoms sections the specimen. Details of emission theory may be found in monographs.Field ionization (FI) is the phenomena whereby an electric field assists in the ionization of gas atoms via tunneling. The tunneling probability is a maximum at a critical distance above the surface,xc, Fig. 1. Energy is required to ionize the gas atom at xc, I, but at a value reduced by the appliedelectric field, xcFe, while energy is recovered by placing the electron in the specimen, φ. The highest ionization probability occurs for those regions on the specimen that have the highest local electric field. Those atoms which protrude from the average surfacehave the smallest radius of curvature, the highest field and therefore produce the highest ionizationprobability and brightest spots on the imaging screen, Fig. 2. This technique is called field ion microscopy (FIM).


Author(s):  
Frank J. Longo

Measurement of the egg's electrical activity, the fertilization potential or the activation current (in voltage clamped eggs), provides a means of detecting the earliest perceivable response of the egg to the fertilizing sperm. By using the electrical physiological record as a “real time” indicator of the instant of electrical continuity between the gametes, eggs can be inseminated with sperm at lower, more physiological densities, thereby assuring that only one sperm interacts with the egg. Integrating techniques of intracellular electrophysiological recording, video-imaging, and electron microscopy, we are able to identify the fertilizing sperm precisely and correlate the status of gamete organelles with the first indication (fertilization potential/activation current) of the egg's response to the attached sperm. Hence, this integrated system provides improved temporal and spatial resolution of morphological changes at the site of gamete interaction, under a variety of experimental conditions. Using these integrated techniques, we have investigated when sperm-egg plasma membrane fusion occurs in sea urchins with respect to the onset of the egg's change in electrical activity.


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