title: Periodic solutions and refractory periods in the soliton theory for nerves and the locust femoral nerve.
abstract: Close to melting transitions it is possible to propagate solitary electromechanical pulses which reflect many of the experimental features of the nerve pulse including mechanical dislocations and reversible heat production. Here we show that one also obtains the possibility of periodic pulse generation when the constraint for the nerve is the conservation of the overall length of the nerve. This condition generates an undershoot beneath the baseline ('hyperpolarization') and a 'refractory period', i.e., a minimum distance between pulses. In this paper, we outline the theory for periodic solutions to the wave equation and compare these results to action potentials from the femoral nerve of the locust (Locusta migratoria). In particular, we describe the frequently occurring minimum-distance doublet pulses seen in these neurons and compare them to the periodic pulse solutions.
authors.affiliation: Membrane Biophysics Group, Niels Bohr Institute, Univ. Copenhagen, Denmark. villagran.e@gmail.com
authors.forename: Edgar Villagran
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ludu
authors.forename: Reinhold
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hustert
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gumrich
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heimburg
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005267:Femoral Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D048188:Locusta migratoria / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D010507:Periodicity; D012032:Refractory Period, Electrophysiological / Q000502:physiology*