Dendritic signal transmission induced by intracellular charge inhomogeneities

Abstract

Signal propagation in neuronal dendrites represents the basis for interneuron communication and information processing in the brain. Here we take into account charge inhomogeneities arising in the vicinity of ion channels in cytoplasm and obtained a modified cable equation. We show that the charge inhomogeneities acting on the millisecond time scale can lead to the appearance of propagating waves with wavelengths of hundreds of micrometers. They correspond to a certain frequency band predicting the appearance of resonant properties in brain neuron signalling.