On the Photonic Cellular Interaction and the Electric Activity of Neurons in the Human Brain

The subject of Ultraweak Photon Emission (UPE) by biological systems is very fascinating, and both evidence of its effects and applications are growing rapidly due to improvements in experimental techniques. Since the relevant equipment should be ultrasensitive with high quantum efficiencies and very low noise levels, the subject of UPE is still hotly debated and some of the interpretations need stronger empirical evidence to be accepted at face value. In this paper we first review different types of interactions between light and living systems based on recent publications. We then discuss the feasibility of UPE production in the human brain. The subject of UPE in the brain is still in early stages of development and needs more accurate experimental methods for proper analysis. In this work we also discuss a possible role of mitochondria in the production of UPE in the neurons of the brain and the plausibility of their effects on microtubules (MTs). MTs have been implicated as playing an important role in the signal and information processing taking place in the mammalian (especially human) brain. Finally, we provide a short discussion about the feasible effects of MTs on electric neural activity in the human brain.

[1]  G. Albrecht‐Buehler.  Autofluorescence of live purple bacteria in the near infrared. , 1997, Experimental cell research.

[2]  Rahn Otto.  Invisible Radiations of Organisms , 1936, Nature.

[3]  István Bókkon,et al.  Phosphene phenomenon: A new concept , 2008, Biosyst..

[4]  I Bókkon,et al.  Emergence of intrinsic representations of images by feedforward and feedback processes and bioluminescent photons in early retinotopic areas. , 2010, Journal of integrative neuroscience.

[5]  Jiapei Dai,et al.  Biophotons as neural communication signals demonstrated by in situ biophoton autography , 2010, Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology.

[6]  Alan E Mark,et al.  Penrose-Hameroff orchestrated objective-reduction proposal for human consciousness is not biologically feasible. , 2009, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[7]  H. Fröhlich.  Long Range Coherence and the Action of Enzymes , 1970, Nature.

[8]  Max Tegmark,et al.  The importance of quantum decoherence in brain processes , 1999, ArXiv.

[9]  D. V. Nanopoulos,et al.  QED-cavity model of microtubules implies dissipationless energy transfer and biological quantum teleportation , 2002, quant-ph/0204021.

[10]  G. Albrecht-Buehler,et al.  Changes of cell behavior by near-infrared signals. , 1995, Cell motility and the cytoskeleton.

[11]  R. Paul,et al.  Comments on the Bose condensation of phonons in the biological systems , 1983 .

[12]  G Albrecht-Buehler,et al.  Cellular infrared detector appears to be contained in the centrosome. , 1994, Cell motility and the cytoskeleton.

[13]  I. Turcu.  A GENERIC MODEL FOR THE FROHLICH RATE EQUATIONS , 1997 .

[14]  Apparent wave function collapse caused by scattering , 1993, gr-qc/9310032.

[15]  István Bókkon,et al.  Visual perception and imagery: A new molecular hypothesis , 2009, Biosyst..

[16]  Systems Biology: an information-theoretic-based thermo-statistical approach , 2004 .

[17]  H. Fröhlich.  Long-range coherence and energy storage in biological systems , 1968 .

[18]  M. V. Mesquita,et al.  NEAR-DISSIPATIONLESS COHERENT EXCITATIONS IN BIOSYSTEMS , 1996 .

[19]  G. Barrionuevo,et al.  Impairment of Long-term Potentiation and Associative Memory in Mice That Overexpress Extracellular Superoxide Dismutase , 2000, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[20]  J. Pokorný,et al.  Conditions for coherent vibrations in the cytoskeleton. , 1999, Bioelectrochemistry and bioenergetics.

[21]  S. Hameroff,et al.  Quantum computation in brain microtubules: decoherence and biological feasibility. , 2000, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[22]  J. Tuszynski,et al.  Quantitative analysis of the frequency spectrum of the radiation emitted by cytochrome oxidase enzymes. , 2001, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[23]  J. Tuszynski,et al.  Estimation of the number of biophotons involved in the visual perception of a single-object image: biophoton intensity can be considerably higher inside cells than outside. , 2010, Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology.

[24]  J. A. Tuszynski,et al.  Relationship between Fröhlich and Davydov models of biological order , 1984 .

[25]  Derek Abbott,et al.  PLENARY DEBATE: QUANTUM EFFECTS IN BIOLOGY: TRIVIAL OR NOT? , 2008 .

[26]  J. Tuszynski,et al.  Fröhlich's condensation in a biological membrane viewed as a Davydov soliton , 1989 .

[27]  I. Antal,et al.  Spontaneous and visible light-induced ultraweak photon emission from rat eyes , 2011, Brain Research.

[28]  H. Fröhlich,et al.  The extraordinary dielectric properties of biological materials and the action of enzymes. , 1975, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[29]  On Quantum Mechanical Aspects of Microtubules , 1997, quant-ph/9708003.

[30]  J. Fields,et al.  Electromagnetic cellular interactions. , 2011, Progress in biophysics and molecular biology.

[31]  Laura K. McKemmish,et al.  Weak, strong, and coherent regimes of Fröhlich condensation and their applications to terahertz medicine and quantum consciousness , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[32]  R. Paul,et al.  Dielectric constant of biological systems , 1984 .

[33]  K. Kikuchi,et al.  Ultraweak biochemiluminescence detected from rat hippocampal slices. , 1995, Neuroreport.

[34]  J. Tuszynski,et al.  Emission of mitochondrial biophotons and their effect on electrical activity of membrane via microtubules. , 2010, Journal of integrative neuroscience.

[35]  E. Joos,et al.  The emergence of classical properties through interaction with the environment , 1985 .

[36]  Gang-yi Wu,et al.  Synaptic localization of a functional NADPH oxidase in the mouse hippocampus , 2005, Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience.

[37]  E. Klann,et al.  Hippocampal memory and plasticity in superoxide dismutase mutant mice , 2002, Physiology & Behavior.

[38]  M. Kühl,et al.  Propagation of electromagnetic radiation in mitochondria? , 2004, Journal of theoretical biology.

[39]  Daniel Fels,et al.  Cellular Communication through Light , 2009, PloS one.

[40]  A. Volterra,et al.  Glutamate uptake inhibition by oxygen free radicals in rat cortical astrocytes , 1994, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[41]  R. Paul,et al.  Theory of long-range coherence in biological systems. I. The anomalous behaviour of human erythrocytes. , 1983, Journal of theoretical biology.

[42]  S. Kosslyn.  Image and Brain: The Resolution of the Imagery Debate , 1994, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[43]  S. Hameroff.  Quantum computation in brain microtubules? The Penrose-Hameroff 'Orch OR' model of consciousness , 1998 .

[44]  M. V. Mesquita,et al.  Large-scale quantum effects in biological systems , 2005 .

[45]  Graham R Fleming,et al.  Dynamics of light harvesting in photosynthesis. , 2009, Annual review of physical chemistry.

[46]  J. Tuszynski.  On the existence of Fröhlich's long-range interactions in dipolar chains , 1985 .

[47]  G. Albrecht‐Buehler.  Rudimentary form of cellular "vision". , 1992, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[48]  T. Mančal,et al.  Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems , 2007, Nature.

[49]  J. Tuszynski,et al.  Plausibility of quantum coherent states in biological systems , 2010, 1012.3879.

[50]  J. Tuszynski.  On possible mechanisms of rouleau formation in human erythrocytes. , 1988, Journal of theoretical biology.

[51]  Luiz Pinguelli Rosa,et al.  Quantum models of the mind: are they compatible with environment decoherence? , 2004, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[52]  E. Klann,et al.  Role of reactive oxygen species in hippocampal long‐term potentiation: Contributory or inhibitory? , 2002, Journal of neuroscience research.

[53]  E. Klann,et al.  Sources and targets of reactive oxygen species in synaptic plasticity and memory. , 2006, Antioxidants & redox signaling.

[54]  Stéphanie Portet,et al.  Elastic vibrations in seamless microtubules , 2005, European Biophysics Journal.

[55]  Mesquita,et al.  Amplification of coherent polar vibrations in biopolymers: Fröhlich condensate. , 1993, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics.

[56]  R. Penrose,et al.  Conscious Events as Orchestrated Space-Time Selections , 1996 .

[57]  J Pokorný,et al.  Multiple Fröhlich coherent states in biological systems: computer simulation. , 1982, Journal of theoretical biology.

[58]  I. Bókkon,et al.  Primary visual cortex; , 2009 .

[59]  H. Inaba,et al.  In vivo imaging of spontaneous ultraweak photon emission from a rat’s brain correlated with cerebral energy metabolism and oxidative stress , 1999, Neuroscience Research.

[60]  J. Pokorný.  Biophysical Cancer Transformation Pathway , 2009, Electromagnetic biology and medicine.