Solitonic conduction of electrotonic signals in neuronal branchlets with polarized microstructure

Abstract

A model of solitonic conduction in neuronal branchlets with microstructure is presented. The application of cable theory to neurons with microstructure results in a nonlinear cable equation that is solved using a direct method to obtain analytical approximations of traveling wave solutions. It is shown that a linear superposition of two oppositely directed traveling waves demonstrate solitonic interaction: colliding waves can penetrate through each other, and continue fully intact as the exact pulses that entered the collision. These findings indicate that microstructure when polarized can sustain solitary waves that propagate at a constant velocity without attenuation or distortion in the absence of synaptic transmission. Solitonic conduction in a neuronal branchlet arising from polarizability of its microstructure is a novel signaling mode of electrotonic signals in thin processes (<0.5 μm diameter).