Mechanical Effect on Neuron Electrical Signal

摘要

Death due to brain injury is increasing. However, the mechanism of injury is still unknown. In order to have a better understanding of these mechanisms, various aspects of neurons should be considered simultaneously. This study is one the few attempts to achieve this goal by considering mechanosensitivity of ion channels which affects the action potential. In this study, we developed a computational model of a neuron. The mechanical and electrophysiological characteristic of the neuron and their coupling effect is included in the model. Our proposed comprehensive model is based on power law equation for mechanical modeling, Hodgkin Huxley (HH) equation for electrophysiological model and recent experiments for combination of these two equations. Based on the model the calculated strain from power law equation affects the activation and inactivation of ion channels. By changing the activation and inactivation variable in the HH equation, we can evaluate the effect of strain and mechanical stimulation on neural function. The results reveal neuron functions' deficiency during neuron mechanical damage. As a result, action potential signal's amplitude reduces. The relation between cell mechanics and neuron function is not clear. However, in this study we were able to develop this relation through past experiments.