Title: Synaptic transmission as a cooperative phenomenon in confined systems
Author(s):

	A.V. Chalyi (Department of Medical and Biological Physics, Bogomolets National Medical University, 13 Shevchenko Blvd., 01601 Kyiv, Ukraine) ,
	A.N. Vasilev (Department of Theoretical Physics, Taras Shenchenko Kyiv National University, 6 Acad. Glushkov Ave., 03022 Kyiv, Ukraine) ,
	E.V. Zaitseva (Department of Medical and Biological Physics, Bogomolets National Medical University, 13 Shevchenko Blvd., 01601 Kyiv, Ukraine)

In this review paper, the theory of synaptic transmission (ST) was developed and discussed. We used the hypothesis of isomorphism between: (a) the cooperative behavior of mediators — acetylcholine molecules (ACh) and cholinoreceptors in a synaptic cleft with binding into mediator-receptor (AChR) complexes, (b) the critical phenomena in confined binary liquid mixtures. The systems of two (or three) nonlinear differential equations were proposed to find the change of concentrations of ACh, AChR complexes, and ferment acetylcholinesterase. The main findings of our study: the linear size of the activation zone was evaluated; the process of postsynaptic membrane activation was described as a cooperative process; different approximations of ACh synchronous release were examined; stationary states and types of singular points were studied for the proposed models of ST; the nonlinear kinetic model with three order parameters demonstrated a strange-attractor behavior.

Key words: cell-to-cell communication, synaptic transmission, phase transition, binary liquid mixture, critical mixing point, finite-size (confined) systems
PACS: 82.40.Ck, 87.10.Ed

Full text [pdf]

<< List of papers