Neural membrane field effects in a cytoskeleton corral: Microdomain regulation of impulse propagation

This article proposes that electrostatic interaction between transiently polarized neural-membrane ethenes and charged residues of an unfolded ion-channel protein regulate channel closing and electrical signaling in neurons. Field effects are confined by a cytoskeleton corral that gates movement of membrane lipids from one corralled region to another. Cytoskeleton gating permits stepwise changes in the concentration of unsaturated lipids and thereby modulates ion-channel activity. The system is hypothesized to operate at axonal branch points where impulse conduction has a low safety factor. Throughout the discussion the A-current delayed-rectifier potassium channel is used as an example. Implications of the model for molecular networks are briefly discussed. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc