Bioelectricity

Week 1 Make Plans Electricity in solu6ons

Week 1 -2 About Bioelectricity

About Bioelectricity
What is Bioelectricity? Why is this picture our course icon?

When did the study of Bioelectricity begin?

Answer: In the 1700s, in Italy, with Galvani and with Volta, in conict.

What was the Galvani-Volta conflict about?

Answer: Galvani thought that animal electricity was a dierent kind of electricity than the heat electricity of Volta.

Though now recognized as incorrect, why does that thought seem reasonable, even today?

How is electricity in living tissue different from the ordinary electricity of batteries, wires, radios and computers? What happens when you throw a standard battery into the ocean?

What happens when you throw a fish in the ocean?

Fish does ne.

;

This ray does too .

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Week 1 -3 Major secCons (weeks) *

What are the weeks of the course? Week 1

Bioelectricity 1. Make Plans Bioelectricity background RecCcaCon of Names Electricity in SoluCons Railroad 1. Make Plans

Week 2
Bioelectricity 2. Energy, to get Vm
Membrane patch Membrane resistance Membrane capacitance Ion pump Nernst Vm

Railroad 2. Sell Tickets, to get money

Week 3
Bioelectricity 3. Channels Railroad 3. Engines

Week 4
Bioelectricity 4. AcCon potenCals
The Hodgkin-Huxley model Dierent kinds of channels coopersa6ng to create voltage pulses (ac6on poten6als)

Railroad 4. Train cars

Week 5
Bioelectricity 5. Currents within the Cssue structure
Axial current and trans-membrane current as determined from Vm by the 6ssues structure

Railroad 5. Track

Week 6
Bioelectricity 6. PropagaCon
Bringing together channels, ac6on poten6als, and structure so that electrical signals (ac6on poten6als) move along a ber

Railroad 6. Train is moving

Week 7
Bioelectricity 7. Watching: Extracellular observaCon of acCon potenCals moving through the structure
Such observa6on is the basis of clinical measurements such as the electrocardiogram.

Railroad 7. Watching the train go by

Week 8
Bioelectricity 8. Control of propagaCon
by means of trans-membrane or eld s6mula6on

Railroad 8. Control of the movement of the train

Final course comments

Bioelectricity Overview

What are the weeks of the course?

Bioelectricity

Railroad analogy

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Week 1 -4 RecCcaCon of Names

Rectification of Names
The RecCcaCon of Names: The idea is taken from the Confucian doctrine that social harmony is achieved by using the proper designa6ons for things. Bioelectricity deals with invisible objects, a big problem. Some conven6ons have been adopted to name the abstract things that are its elements.

Membranes
The lipid bilayer is a thin material around cells. It is made of two layers of lipid molecules. One end (circles) is hydrophilic. The middle (lines) is hydrophobic. The lipid bilayer is thin in comparison to a cell diameter. In this illustra6on, the cell diameter is 200,000 Angstroms, while the lipid bilayer is only 80A.

Positive membrane voltage & positive membrane current

This sign convention is always used.

Passive versus Active: same as dead versus alive?

Passive means that electrical proper6es, such as resistance, are maintained without change as 6me passes. Ac6ve means that, following some trigger, proper6es such as resistance can change. A dead alligator is passive. A live alligator can be passive, but dont count on it.

Passive versus Active: same as dead versus alive?

No. But, electrically ac6ve membrane, which is living 6ssue, may act passive but at other 6mes will be ac6ve. Ac6ve means, for example, a resistor that is a million Ohms, but then changes to be a thousand, and then changes back.

Notation: E compared to e
First e then E

The natural number e

e = 2.718. The lecer e stands for this value e is like in that both stand for constants (dierent numbers, of course). Note that e is wricen lower case. The lecer e may stand for Euler, a famous mathema6cian.

The natural number e

In banking $1 at an interest rate r of 100% , compounded innitely rapidly, is worth e dollars afer one year. Over 6me principal P grows according to the equa6on P=Po exp(r*t). Po is the ini6al amount, * means mul6ply, and t is 6me. The term exp(r*t) is e to the power r*t .

The natural number e

e shows up in equa6ons when the rate of change is propor6onal to the amount which is there to start. Some version of this situa6on occurs frequently in bioelectricity.

The sizes of things, and E

Potassium ion 1 = 1E-10m ( is an Angstrom) Membrane 80 = 0.8E-8m Cell diameter 50m= 50E-6m Electrode 1mm = 1E-3m My height 2m = 2E0m

E notation

E, e, and
E as the power of 10, the

exponent, is unrelated to e, Eulers constant. Neither one is the electric eld . Make use of context.

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Week 1 -5 Ions in SoluCons *

Ions in Solution
The presence of ions gives a solu6on electrical conduc6vity because ions are charged and they move. For example, in water ordinary table salt ---NaCl divides into sodium and chloride ions, Na+ and Cl- . Each is charged because an electron is taken from Na and added to Cl, leaving Na+ as net posi6ve, and Cl- as net nega6ve.

Ions and conductivity

Conduc6vity is a measure of how many and how easily charges move. The conduc6vity of ions is greater when there are more ions, or when ions can move more freely. For electrophysiology, the concentra6ons of the ions of sodium, potassium, and chloride are par6cularly signicant.

Resis6vity and sea water

Resis6vity is the reciprocal of conduc6vity. In ocean water the resis6vity is around about 25 ohm-cm. The conduc6vity is the reciprocal, 1/25 Siemans per cm.

Resis6vity and sea water

To get the resistance of a container lled with a solu6on of known resis6vity, mul6ply the resis6vity by the length and divide by the cross-sec6onal area. The result will be in Ohms. For example, if the resis6vity is 25 Ohm-cm what is the resistance along a box with length 10cm if the cross sec6on is square with each edge 5cm? r = 25 Ohms-cm / (5cm * 5cm) = 1 Ohm / cm R = r * L = 1 Ohm /cm * 10 cm = 10 Ohms.

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A big structure from small pieces

Week 1 -6 RT/F and other physical constants

RT/F
RT/F is a kind of conversion factor between ionic concentra6ons and voltages R is the gas constant: 8.314 Joules per (degree K *moles) T is the absolute temperature. 0 degrees C is 273.16 degrees K F is Faradays constant: 96,487 Coulombs/mole
Please double check all these values using standard references.

RT/F
RT/F is about 26 milli-Volts Why is 26 milli-Volts a kind of natural constant?

Faradays constant
F is Faradays constant: 96,487 Coulombs/mole
Where does this value come from? From here: Avagadros number, is 6.02e23 molecules per mole. The charge on one electron is 1.6e-19 Coulombs. Mul6ply them to get F

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Week 1 -7 Electricity in SoluCons *

Sources and sinks in a conductive medium, a sketch

Electricity in Solu6ons
The Big 5
The arrows signify that each quan6ty can be found from the one before (including number 1 from number 5. These 5 quan66es are referred to, later on, as the big 5

#1 of the Big 5---Potentials

Most people know that baceries have voltages, but most people are not aware that the idea of potenCal is a much bigger idea. The potenCal gives a measure of the electrical energy available at one point. Poten6als are measured in Volts. If one moves from a locaCon with high potenCal to one with low potenCal, that means that energy is released in transit, and that energy can be used for other things.

More about potential

The poten6al is a scalar func6on with a gradient propor6onal to the current. By analogy, the height of a hill has a gradient (slope) propor6onal to the speed of water ow along the hills surface.

Second of the big 5 the electric field

The poten6al gives a measure of the electrical energy available at one point The electric eld is the change in poten6al with distance. It has a magnitude, and also a direc6on. The electric eld is measured in Volts/meter.

(2nd again) Sign of E

E goes down the poten6al hill, not up. That is, E is the negaCve of the gradient of poten6al. That is because change of poten6al with distance is given a posi6ve sign when the poten6al is increasing. The electric eld is in the downhill direc6on, toward lower poten6als, so the sign reversal is needed.

Third of the big 5, Force F

The force F exerted on a charge q is F=Eq . E and F ofen involve a direc6on as well as a magnitude, although ofen6mes the direc6on is understood from context. Forces from the electrical eld are true mechanical forces, and some6mes extremely large ones, as with lightening.

Fourth of the big 5the current flux

The current ux J is propor6onal to the force, mul6plied by the conduc6vity Current ux is in units of Amperes/cm2, so to get current in Amperes one mul6plies by the cross-sec6onal area. Some6mes current ux is designated I rather than J. Thats confusing since I also is used for the current Amperes

Fifth in the big 5 Sources

The poten6al gives a measure of the electrical energy available at one point The electric eld is the change in poten6al with distance. It has a magnitude, and also a direc6on. The electric eld is measured in Volts/meter.

The current ux J is propor6onal to the electric eld .

Sources are points where current originates or disappears. One takes the divergence of the current at a point to determine if it is a source.

What does divergence diverge from?

Answer: From sources and sinks
The way you know if a point is a source is drawing a closed surface around the point and totaling the current through the surface. Is the eld point a source?

What is the potential anywhere, for one source and one sink?
For one source and one sink, the poten6al at eld point p is given by

MathemaDcal for of the 6-step program

In this course, most of the 6me one does need to have mastered the manipula6on of or even fully understand -- these quan66es mathema6cally. But one does have to have the idea of what they are, qualita6vely, and some basic quan6ta6ve knowledge helps a lot, too

Electricity in solu6ons

Comments on the math form of the 6-step program

Electricity in solu6ons

On the one hand,

In this course, most of the 6me one does need to have mastered the manipula6on of or even fully understand -- the big 5 quan66es mathema6cally.

But on the other hand,

One does have to have the idea of what the big 5 are, qualita6vely. Some basic quan6ta6ve knowledge helps a lot, too

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Week 1 -8 Electric potenCals as compared to Voltages

Potentials versus Voltages

A set of poten6als are all measured against a common reference point. Voltages are measured in pairs. Both are in units of Volts.

Potentials versus Voltages

Example?

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Week 1 -9 Forces exerted by electric elds *

Electrical Forces
A molecule or other object with a charge feels a push when it is in an electrical eld.
Think of lightening --- molecules are ripped apart by the huge electrical eld in the lightening bolt. Think of light bulbs electrons are pushed through wires or across gaps by an electric eld. Think of ion-selecCve channels through membrane.

Fields can be big

E = change in poten6al / change in distance

When poten6al changes are small, elds can be big if the change is over a short distance, because then the ra6o can be large and thus the eld E large.

Forces can be big

Membranes have signicant poten6al change across very small distance (thickness of the membrane). o That means there is a big eld, and it means that big mechanical forces occur on charges within the membrane (because F = Eq).

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Week 1 -10 First Problem Session

Communication

Axial Potential Field

Intracellular Potential Pattern (x)

Axial E and Current

Divergence (Sources)

How Much Current?

How Much Current?

Suppose the exact answer is -9.87nA but I enter an answer of -10nA. Will it be scored as correct? No, because the answers scored as correct must be between 1.01 6mes and 0.99 6mes the exact answer. Here that range would be -9.7689 to -9.9663nA, so -10nA would be outside that range.

Does a micro Ampere matter?

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Human communica6on pathways.

Week 1 -11 Problem session *

Problem Session Q
If a source of 2 mA is located at the origin, and a sink of -2mA is located at x=1 mm (y,z zero). (The resistivity of the medium is = 100.5 ohm-cm.) A) What is the potential a at point A: x,y=0, z = 10 mm? B) The potential b at point B: x = 1, y=0, z=10 mm? C) What is the voltage Vab between points A and B?

Problem Session A
If a source of 2 mA is located at the origin, and a sink of -2mA is located at x=1 mm (y,z zero). (The resistivity of the medium is = 100.5 ohm-cm.)

A) What is the potential a at point A: x,y=0, z = 10 mm?

Problem Session B
If a source of 2 mA is located at the origin, and a sink of -2mA is located at x=1 mm (y,z zero). (The resistivity of the medium is = 100.5 ohmcm.) B) The potential b at point B: x = 1, y=0, z=10 mm?

Problem Session C
If a source of 2 mA is located at the origin, and a sink of -2mA is located at x=1 mm (y,z zero). (The resistivity of the medium is = 100.5 ohm-cm.) C) What is the voltage Vab between points A and B?

Vab =

Problem Session D

D. Finding the solu6on to part A by evalua6ng the equa6on directly seems redundant and prone to error. It requires evalua6ng 2 terms to high precision so as to be able to subtract accurately. Further, the 2 terms are very similar. Is there a way to reduce the 2 terms to one, to a good approximaCon?

Week 1 -12 Week in Review *

Conclusions for the week-1

Galvani was wrong. Electricity is fundamentally the same thing in living 6ssue, solu6ons, and ordinary experience.

Conclusions for the week-2

Galvani was right. The manifesta6ons and rules are dierent, e.g. the problem of the bacery versus the sh in the sea.

Conclusions for the week-3

Solu6ons get their conduc6vity from ions.

Conclusions for the week-4

RT/F is 26 mV, more or less.

Conclusions for the week-5

Electricity in solu6on is about the big 5, poten6al, eld, force, current, and sources. Each can be computed from the one before.

Conclusions for the week-6

. In bioelectricity, there are big elds and forces across short distances.

Conclusions for the week-All 6

1. Galvani was wrong. Electricity is fundamentally the same thing in living 6ssue, solu6ons, and ordinary experience. 2. Galvani was right. The manifesta6ons and rules are dierent, e.g. the problem of the bacery versus the sh in the sea. 3. Solu6ons get their conduc6vity from ions. 4. RT/F is 26 mV, more or less. 5. Electricity in solu6on is about the big 5, poten6al, eld, force, current, and sources. Each can be computed from the one before. 6. In bioelectricity, there are big elds and forces across short distances.

Good-bye for Week 1