Subcellular neuronal quasicrystals: Implications for consciousness

Abstract

Neuron neurotransmitter receptors are in general pentameric. This enables them to form pentagonal components in biological quasicrystals (similar to mathematical aperiodic tilings). As quasicrystals have been proposed to require quantum effects to exist this might introduce such effects as a component of neurotransmission and thus consciousness. Microtubules may play a role in the clustering of the receptors into quasicrystals, thus modulating their function and may even form quasicrystals themselves. Other quaiscrystals in neurons are potentially formed by water, cholera toxin complexes, and the cytoskeletal components actin and ankyrin.

Keywords: aperiodic tiling; consciousness; microtubule; neurotransmitter receptors; quantum computing; quasicrystal.

Figure 1.

An example of an aperiodic tiling with 5-fold local symmetry.

Figure 2.

Filtered projection views of membrane-bound AcChoR pentameric oligomers displayed as density contour maps. The maps clearly show an aperiodic crystalline configuration. (A) Reconstructed from the structurally better preserved A surface of the tube. The stain-filled groove faces to the left for 5 of 7 tubes. (B) Reconstructed from the A surface of the tube. The groove faces to the right for 2 of 7 tubes. (C) Reconstructed from the more distorted B surface of the tube. All images are oriented such that the tube axis is vertical. The a lattice direction is always parallel to the tube axis; the b lattice direction is 125 degrees clockwise from a in A and B and is 132 degrees counterclockwise from a in C. From ref.⁹ and used with permission.