Nanophysiology is a field [1][2] that concerns the function of nanodomains, such as the regulation of molecular or ionic flows in cell subcompartments, such as glial protrusions, dendritic spines, dendrites, mitochondria and many more.

Background

Molecular organization in nanocompartments provides the construction required to achieve elementary functions that can sustain higher physiological functions of a cell. This includes calcium homeostatis, protein turn over, plastic changes underlying cell communications. The goal of this field is to determine the function of these nanocompartments based on molecular organization, ionic flow or voltage distribution.

Voltage dynamics

How the voltage is regulated in nanodomains remains an open field. While the classical Goldman-Hodgkin-Huxley-Katz models in biophysics provides a foundation for electrophysiology and has been responsible for many advances in neuroscience, this theory remains insufficient to describe the voltage dynamics in small nano-compartments, such as synaptic terminals or cytoplasm around voltage-gated channels, because they are based on spatial and ionic homogeneity. Instead, electrodiffusion theory[1][3] [4] should be used to describe electrical current flow in these nanostructures and reveal the structure-function.

References

  1. 1 2 Savtchenko, Leonid P.; Poo, Mu Ming; Rusakov, Dmitri A. (October 2017). "Electrodiffusion phenomena in neuroscience: a neglected companion". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 18 (10): 598–612. doi:10.1038/nrn.2017.101. ISSN 1471-0048. PMID 28924257. S2CID 205502448.
  2. ↑ Holcman, David; Yuste, Rafael (November 2015). "The new nanophysiology: regulation of ionic flow in neuronal subcompartments". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 16 (11): 685–692. doi:10.1038/nrn4022. ISSN 1471-0048. PMID 26462753. S2CID 3067208.
  3. ↑ Cartailler, Jerome; Kwon, Taekyung; Yuste, Rafael; Holcman, David (March 2018). "Deconvolution of Voltage Sensor Time Series and Electro-diffusion Modeling Reveal the Role of Spine Geometry in Controlling Synaptic Strength". Neuron. 97 (5): 1126–1136.e10. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2018.01.034. PMC 5933057. PMID 29429935.
  4. ↑ Cartailler, Jerome; Holcman, David (November 2019). "Electrodiffusion Theory to Map the Voltage Distribution in Dendritic Spines at a Nanometer Scale". Neuron. 104 (3): 440–441. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2019.10.025. PMID 31697920. S2CID 207844662.
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