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. 2023 Jul:226:102465.
doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2023.102465. Epub 2023 May 18.

Cytoelectric coupling: Electric fields sculpt neural activity and "tune" the brain's infrastructure

Dimitris A Pinotsis  1 , Gene Fridman  2 , Earl K Miller  3
Affiliations

Cytoelectric coupling: Electric fields sculpt neural activity and "tune" the brain's infrastructure

Dimitris A Pinotsis et al. Prog Neurobiol. 2023 Jul.

Abstract

We propose and present converging evidence for the Cytoelectric Coupling Hypothesis: Electric fields generated by neurons are causal down to the level of the cytoskeleton. This could be achieved via electrodiffusion and mechanotransduction and exchanges between electrical, potential and chemical energy. Ephaptic coupling organizes neural activity, forming neural ensembles at the macroscale level. This information propagates to the neuron level, affecting spiking, and down to molecular level to stabilize the cytoskeleton, "tuning" it to process information more efficiently.

Keywords: Bioelectric field; Cytoskeleton; Electrodiffusion; Ephaptic coupling; Mechanotransduction; Memory engrams.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no competing interests.

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