No Arabic abstract
In this paper we argue that, in addition to electrical and chemical signals propagating in the neurons of the brain, signal propagation takes place in the form of biophoton production. This statement is supported by recent experimental confirmation of photon guiding properties of a single neuron. We have investigated the interaction of mitochondrial biophotons with microtubules from a quantum mechanical point of view. Our theoretical analysis indicates that the interaction of biophotons and microtubules causes transitions/fluctuations of microtubules between coherent and incoherent states. A significant relationship between the fluctuation function of microtubules and alpha-EEG diagrams is elaborated on in this paper. We argue that the role of biophotons in the brain merits special attention.
Individual locations of many neuronal cell bodies (>10^4) are needed to enable statistically significant measurements of spatial organization within the brain such as nearest-neighbor and microcolumnarity measurements. In this paper, we introduce an Automated Neuron Recognition Algorithm (ANRA) which obtains the (x,y) location of individual neurons within digitized images of Nissl-stained, 30 micron thick, frozen sections of the cerebral cortex of the Rhesus monkey. Identification of neurons within such Nissl-stained sections is inherently difficult due to the variability in neuron staining, the overlap of neurons, the presence of partial or damaged neurons at tissue surfaces, and the presence of non-neuron objects, such as glial cells, blood vessels, and random artifacts. To overcome these challenges and identify neurons, ANRA applies a combination of image segmentation and machine learning. The steps involve active contour segmentation to find outlines of potential neuron cell bodies followed by artificial neural network training using the segmentation properties (size, optical density, gyration, etc.) to distinguish between neuron and non-neuron segmentations. ANRA positively identifies 86[5]% neurons with 15[8]% error (mean[st.dev.]) on a wide range of Nissl-stained images, whereas semi-automatic methods obtain 80[7]%/17[12]%. A further advantage of ANRA is that it affords an unlimited increase in speed from semi-automatic methods, and is computationally efficient, with the ability to recognize ~100 neurons per minute using a standard personal computer. ANRA is amenable to analysis of huge photo-montages of Nissl-stained tissue, thereby opening the door to fast, efficient and quantitative analysis of vast stores of archival material that exist in laboratories and research collections around the world.
In this paper we briefly discuss the necessity of using quantum mechanics as a fundamental theory applicable to some key functional aspects of biological systems. This is especially relevant to three important parts of a neuron in the human brain, namely the cell membrane, microtubules (MT) and ion channels. We argue that the recently published papers criticizing the use of quantum theory in these systems are not convincing.
The delayed luminescence of biological tissues is an ultraweak reemission of absorbed photons after exposure to external monochromatic or white light illumination. Recently, Wang, Bokkon, Dai and Antal (Brain Res. 2011) presented the first experimental proof of the existence of spontaneous ultraweak biophoton emission and visible light induced delayed ultraweak photon emission from in vitro freshly isolated rats whole eye, lens, vitreous humor and retina. Here, we suggest that the photobiophysical source of negative afterimage can also occur within the eye by delayed bioluminescent photons. In other words, when we stare at a colored (or white) image for few seconds, external photons can induce excited electronic states within different parts of the eye that is followed by a delayed reemission of absorbed photons for several seconds. Finally, these reemitted photons can be absorbed by nonbleached photoreceptors that produce a negative afterimage. Although this suggests the photobiophysical source of negative afterimages is related retinal mechanisms, cortical neurons have also essential contribution in the interpretation and modulation of negative afterimages.
We present the novel approach to mathematical modeling of information processes in biosystems. It explores the mathematical formalism and methodology of quantum theory, especially quantum measurement theory. This approach is known as {it quantum-like} and it should be distinguished from study of genuine quantum physical processes in biosystems (quantum biophysics, quantum cognition). It is based on quantum information representation of biosystems state and modeling its dynamics in the framework of theory of open quantum systems. This paper starts with the non-physicist friendly presentation of quantum measurement theory, from the original von Neumann formulation to modern theory of quantum instruments. Then, latter is applied to model combinations of cognitive effects and gene regulation of glucose/lactose metabolism in Escherichia coli bacterium. The most general construction of quantum instruments is based on the scheme of indirect measurement, in that measurement apparatus plays the role of the environment for a biosystem. The biological essence of this scheme is illustrated by quantum formalization of Helmholtz sensation-perception theory. Then we move to open systems dynamics and consider quantum master equation, with concentrating on quantum Markov processes. In this framework, we model functioning of biological functions such as psychological functions and epigenetic mutation.
In this work we studied the combined action of chemical and electrical synapses in small networks of Hindmarsh-Rose (HR) neurons on the synchronous behaviour and on the rate of information produced (per time unit) by the networks. We show that if the chemical synapse is excitatory, the larger the chemical synapse strength used the smaller the electrical synapse strength needed to achieve complete synchronisation, and for moderate synaptic strengths one should expect to find desynchronous behaviour. Otherwise, if the chemical synapse is inhibitory, the larger the chemical synapse strength used the larger the electrical synapse strength needed to achieve complete synchronisation, and for moderate synaptic strengths one should expect to find synchronous behaviours. Finally, we show how to calculate semi-analytically an upper bound for the rate of information produced per time unit (Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy) in larger networks. As an application, we show that this upper bound is linearly proportional to the number of neurons in a network whose neurons are highly connected.