Electrical oscillations in microtubules

Abstract

Overview

Environmental perturbations and local changes in cellular electric potential can stimulate cytoskeletal filaments to transmit ionic currents along their surface. Advanced models and accurate experiments may provide a molecular understanding of these processes and reveal their role in cell electrical activities. This article introduces a multi-scale electrokinetic model incorporating atomistic protein details and biological environments to characterize electrical impulses along microtubules.

Model and Approach

• The model considers condensed ionic layers on microtubule surfaces forming two coupled asymmetric nonlinear electrical transmission lines.
• It accounts for tubulin-tubulin interactions, dissipation, and a nanopore coupling between inner and outer surfaces, enabling luminal currents, energy transfer, amplification, and oscillatory dynamics that resemble the experimentally observed transistor properties of microtubules.
• The effects of different electrolyte conditions and voltage stimuli on impulse shape, attenuation, oscillation, and propagation velocity along microtubules are analyzed.
• Transistor-like properties are integrated, with significant implications for intracellular communication and bioelectronic applications.

Findings

• Nano-pore functionality is central to the electrical activity of microtubules (MTs).
• Experiments with pharmacological inhibition (Taxol and Gd3+) confirm that nanopores act as functional nanogates, not passive defects.
• These nanogates determine the oscillatory and amplifying properties of microtubules and their coupling with the ionic environment enables MTs to act as biological transistors.

Conclusion

MTs can mediate nonlinear amplification and signal propagation at the nanoscale, acting as active bioelectronic components in cells. Their properties may contribute to cellular communication, neuronal dynamics, and quantum-electrodynamic biological phenomena. The findings suggest that cells could use oscillatory signaling along cytoskeletal filaments to regulate local biochemical events, synchronize activity, and support complex processes in excitable tissues like the brain. This work invites interest across disciplines—physics, engineering, and experimental biology—by advancing cytoskeletal biophysics and cell communication research.