Author(s)

Vera Maura Fernandes de Lima^1,2, José Roberto Castilho Piqueira³, Wolfgang Hanke⁴

¹CCO Medical School, Universidade Federal de Sao Joao Del Rei, Sao Joao Del Rei, Brazil.
²LIM-26 Faculty of Medicine, USP, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
³Laboratory of Automation and Control, Escola Politecnica, USP, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
⁴Membrane Physiology Division, Physiology Institute 230, Hohenheim University, Stuttgart, Germany.

In isolated chick retina, the visualization of electrochemical self-organized patterns is possible due to the presence of macroscopic intrinsic optical signals (IOSs). Isolated circular waves, standing patterns, and self-sustained sequences of spirals are all easily obtained using an IOS approach. In this paper we present the tight coupling and non-linear relationship between optical and electrical wave concomitants, and potassium-induced whole tissue excitability changes. Elementary statistical methods and time series analyses were applied to two sets of data: 1) solitary circular retinal spreading depression waves, and 2) tissue response to exogenous potassium fast pulses. The results were interpreted from the point of view of non-linear thermodynamical concepts and volume phase transitions in polyanionic gels according to the Tasaki action potential model. From these and previous results, it is clear that the glial network and extracellular matrix contribute to the propagation and emergence of these patterns.

Glial Network, Extracellular Matrix, KCl, Spreading Depression, Excitable Media

Fernandes de Lima, V. , Piqueira, J. and Hanke, W. (2015) The Tight Coupling and Non-Linear Relationship between the Macroscopic Electrical and Optical Concomitants of Electrochemical CNS Waves Reflect the Non-Linear Dynamics of Neural Glial Propagation. Open Journal of Biophysics, 5, 1-20. doi: 10.4236/ojbiphy.2015.51001.