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membrane
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Thinking about the action potential: the nerve signal as a window to ... frontiersin.org 10 facts
quoteJackson and Heimburg (2020) noted that the associated changes in the thickness of the membrane, the length of the axon, and the reversible release of latent heat have all been found experimentally.
perspectiveThe mainstream Hodgkin-Huxley framework has been criticized for treating neurons as 'essentially inanimate objects' or threshold logic devices, which focuses on membrane and synaptic activities while ignoring other intraneuronal biological variables, according to Hameroff (2022).
claimGhosh, S., Singh, P., Manna, J., Saxena, K., Sahoo, P., Krishnanda, S. D., et al. (2022) claimed in 'The century-old picture of a nerve spike is wrong: Filaments fire, before membrane' (Commun. Integr. Biol.) that filaments fire before the membrane during a nerve spike, challenging the traditional model.
claimRobert Williams originally formulated the view that the propagation of an action potential is the electrical manifestation of a "running wave of structural changes along the membrane" produced by the diffusion and binding of calcium ions.
perspectiveDrukarch et al. (2022) argue that the HJ soliton model should be interpreted as the simplest description—utilizing first-order non-linearity and dispersion—that captures the essential features of an adiabatically propagating phase transition in a membrane, rather than being dismissed entirely.
referenceIn the Hodgkin and Huxley model, the action potential is presented as the result of depolarization-induced, voltage- and time-dependent opening and closure of ion channels in the membrane, allowing the passive flow of sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) ions into and out of the neuronal cytoplasm along their respective electrochemical ion gradients.
claimIn the thermodynamics-based framework, the propagating action potential is characterized as a self-sustaining, localized density pulse that manifests as a voltage pulse due to the reversible compression and relaxation of lipid molecules in the membrane.
claimGhosh et al. (2022) proposed that during action potential discharge, filaments fire before the membrane, a concept that challenges commonly held beliefs about the process.
claimA debate exists between the mainstream view of the action potential as an electric pulse and the minority interpretation of the action potential as a multiphysical, thermodynamic wave propagating within the membrane.
referenceNeher and Sakmann (1976) reported the recording of single-channel currents from the membrane of denervated frog muscle fibers in the journal Nature.
Chapter 1. Body Structure – Human Anatomy and Physiology I louis.pressbooks.pub 3 facts
referenceIn anatomical terminology, the term 'visceral' refers to the side of a membrane facing the organs, which is the opposite of parietal.
referenceIn anatomical terminology, the term 'parietal' refers to the side of a membrane facing the body wall.
claimThe abdominopelvic cavity is not physically divided by a membrane, but is conceptually distinguished into the abdominal cavity, which houses digestive organs, and the pelvic cavity, which houses organs of reproduction.
Bioelectricity | Cell Signaling, Nerve Impulses & Muscle Contractions britannica.com Mar 10, 2026 2 facts
claimAn electric-potential difference arises between two solutions of different ion concentrations when they are separated by a membrane that blocks the flow of those ions.
claimWhen two solutions of different concentrations are separated by a membrane that allows one kind of ion to pass but not the other, the concentrations of the permeable ion tend to equalize by diffusion, producing equal and opposite net charges in the two solutions.
Neuroanatomy, Neuron Action Potential - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf ncbi.nlm.nih.gov 1 fact
claimAction potential propagation along a neuron's axon occurs when local currents created by depolarization are strong enough to depolarize neighboring segments of the membrane to the threshold.