1. Effect of cytoskeletal element degradation on merging of concentration waves in slow axonal transport
- Author
-
D.G. Blinov, Andriy A. Avramenko, and Andrey V. Kuznetsov
- Subjects
Physics ,slow axonal transport ,Computer simulation ,QC1-999 ,neurons ,General Physics and Astronomy ,axons ,Mechanics ,molecular motors ,Neuron body ,Superposition principle ,numerical modeling ,Amplitude ,Slow axonal transport ,Molecular motor ,stop-and-go hypothesis ,Merge (version control) ,Cytoskeletal element - Abstract
The aim of this paper is to investigate, by means of a numerical simulation, the effect of the half-life of cytoskeletal elements (CEs) on superposition of several waves representing concentrations of running, pausing, and off-track anterograde and retrograde CE populations. The waves can be induced by simultaneous microinjections of radiolabeled CEs in different locations in the vicinity of a neuron body; alternatively, the waves can be induced by microinjecting CEs at the same location several times, with a time interval between the injections. Since the waves spread out as they propagate downstream, unless their amplitude decreases too fast, they eventually superimpose. As a result of superposition and merging of several waves, for the case with a large half-life of CEs, a single wave is formed. For the case with a small half-life the waves vanish before they have enough time to merge.
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF