A new means of energy supply driven by terahertz photons recovers related neural activity

Abstract

Continuous and efficient energy capture represents a long-sought dream of mankind. The brain is a major energy consuming organ, an adult brain accounts for about 2% of the body weight but consumes about 20% of the body's energy. However, it is still unclear how the brain achieve efficient use of energy. Here, using nerve cells as test subjects, we found that THz photons with a specific frequency can effectively restore the reduced frequency of action potentials caused by inadequate adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) supply, which has been demonstrated as a novel mode of energy supply, present photons emission at a particular frequency from the breaking of the ATP phosphate bond. This energy supply mechanism may play a key biophysical basis for explaining how the body efficiently obtain energy, because the quantized chemical reactions could have a high energy efficiency and ultrahigh selectivity compared with the traditional thermochemistry and photochemistry.