Heat Production Associated with a Propagated Impulse in Bullfrog Myelinated Nerve Fibers.

Abstract

By using heat-sensors constructed with thin film of polyvinylidene fluoride, it was found possible to detect the heat generated by myelinated fibers in the bullfrog sciatic nerve in association with a propagated impulse. The quantity of heat generated (about 0.4 microcal/g at 4.5 degrees C) is roughly two orders of magnitude smaller than that observed in nerves containing only non-myelinated nerve fibers. The smallness of the heat observed is attributed to the localization of the heat sources at the nodes of Ranvier. The major portion of the heat generated is re-absorbed by the nerve.

Periodic solutions and refractory periods in the soliton theory for nerves and the locust femoral nerve

“…of localized pulses, exists. This model automatically addresses the observed changes in length [6] and [14] and thickness [32,16,33,34,14,35] and the reversible heat production [10,11,13,14,36].…”

On the Action Potential as a Propagating Density Pulse and the Role of Anesthetics

“…Further, it is clearly inconsistent with the thermal response. The initial heat release and subsequent re-absorption studied by a number of authors [16,17,18,19,20] points rather to a reversible physical phenomenon that conserves entropy. In contrast, the Hodgkin-Huxley model is based on the flux of currents through resistors that should heat the membrane independent of the nature of the current and its direction.…”

“…Further, during the action potential lipid membrane markers change their fluorescence intensity and their anisotropy [14,15]. Most striking, however, is the finding that there are reversible changes in temperature and heat during the action potential [16,17,18,19,20]. While the Hodgkin-Huxley model [6] contains resistors that should generate heat during the flow of ions, the reversible release and re-absorption of heat does not find a satisfactory explanation within this model [21].…”

Propagation of Action Potential Mediated by Microtubules May Involve in The Neural Quantum Mechanism

“…the same direction did not result in the annihilation of the action potentials predicted by the HH model, but presented a phenomenon of mutual penetration (Heimburg and Jackson, 2014). Other studies have observed that there is no heat dissipation in the process of action potential transmission, which is an adiabatic (non-dissipative) phenomenon (Abbott et al, 1958;Howarth et al, 1968;Howarth, 1975;Ritchie and Keynes, 1985;Tasaki and Byrne, 1992). However, according to HH model, ion flow through resistance (channel protein) can lead to irreversible heat dissipation of membrane (Heimburg and Jackson, 2007), which is in contradiction with the observed results.…”