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Amplification of terahertz/infrared field at the nodes of Ranvier for myelinated nerve

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Abstract

The myelination of axons was the last major evolution in the vertebrate nervous system. Myelin promotes the speed of action potential by two orders, and modulates the conduction of neurons, important for learning new skills. However, the intrinsic mechanism for high-speed information propagation in myelin in the nervous systems is still unclear. We propose that myelinated nerve fibres serve as dielectric waveguides for the high-frequency electromagnetic information in a certain mid-infrared to terahertz spectral range. Based on the structure characteristics of myelinated nerve composed of periodic nodes of Ranvier and myelin sheath, the energy for the signal propagation is supplied and amplified when crossing the nodes of Ranvier via a periodic relay. In this work, we exploit the quasi-quantum model of amplification for neural terahertz/infrared information at the nodes of Ranvier, and prove the existence of biomolecular ensemble for three-energy-level amplification, revealing the essential mechanism of high-speed electromagnetic information transmitting in myelinated nerves.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Physical Electronics and Devices of the Ministry of Education, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    YanSheng Liu, KaiJie Wu, ChunLiang Liu & Chao Chang

  2. Innovation Laboratory of Terahertz Biophysics, National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology, Beijing, 100071, China

    YanSheng Liu & Chao Chang

  3. Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, Xi’an, 710024, China

    YanSheng Liu, GangQiang Cui & GuoZhi Liu

Authors
  1. YanSheng Liu
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  2. KaiJie Wu
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  3. ChunLiang Liu
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  4. GangQiang Cui
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  5. Chao Chang
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  6. GuoZhi Liu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chao Chang or GuoZhi Liu.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51677145, and 11622542).

Supporting Information The supporting information is available online at phys.scichina.com and http://link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Liu, Y., Wu, K., Liu, C. et al. Amplification of terahertz/infrared field at the nodes of Ranvier for myelinated nerve. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 63, 274211 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-019-1530-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-019-1530-2

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