Abstract
Fröhlich’s model of coherent excitations in biological systems can provide mechanisms for long-range order and cooperativity, factors useful for biomolecular communication and information processing. Fröhlich’s coherence is based on oscillating dipoles in a voltage field, and has been applied primarily to biological membranes (Fröhlich 1970, 1975, 1986). Relatively overlooked, the interiors of living cells contain parallel networks of dynamic protein filamentous polymers which organize and regulate intracellular activities and whose properties strongly suggest communication and intelligence. These networks are collectively termed the cytoskeleton because they were originally thought to provide merely structural bone-like support to living cells. It is now recognized that the cytoskeleton is a dynamic information-processing system capable of organizing cell movement, division, growth and behavior. Thus the cytoskeleton may be described as the nervous system within all cells, ranging from single cell organisms like amoeba and paramecium, to nerve cells (neurons) within the human brain. In neurons, the cytoskeleton accounts for formation and rearrangements of neuronal form and synaptic connections, factors implicated in wide ranges of cognitive functions including neural networking, learning, memory, and consciousness. Components of the cytoskeleton (microtubules, actin and intermediate filaments, microtrabecular lattice) are oriented assemblies of “polar” subunits and have been accordingly described as electrets. The characteristics of polar electrets have been considered sufficient to support Fröhlich-type coherent excitations in the cytoskeleton (Del Giudice et al. 1983c).
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Hameroff, S.R. (1988). Coherence in the Cytoskeleton: Implications for Biological Information Processing. In: Fröhlich, H. (eds) Biological Coherence and Response to External Stimuli. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73309-3_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73309-3_14
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