The role of the brain cell nuclei in the function of memory.
The neurophysiological basis of memory may lie in the significance of eccentric cell nuclei found in neurons in certain parts of the brain. Embryonic nerve cells are spherical with central nuclei, whereas fully developed neurons in specific parts of the adult brain are non-spherical with eccentric nuclei. The hypothesis proposes that the mechanism of the sodium pump of the cell membrane is affected by the proximity of the nucleus. Molecules from the nucleus travel through the protoplasm of the cell to the deep surface of the cell membrane. The polarity of the individual cell is determined by that part of the cell membrane which is nearest the nucleus. This "Favoured Spot" is always re-energised first after the sodium pump has been discharged by a stimulus from a synaptic knob. After depolarisation, stimuli arriving at the favoured spot have priority over stimuli arriving simultaneously at any other parts of the cell, for when the latter are still in a refractory phase, the favoured spot is already re-energised to its exitatory state.
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000502:physiology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012964:Sodium / Q000378:metabolism; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology
D012964:Sodium