Travis
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- Jul 14, 2016
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The best one that I've seen was the silver deposition experiment. I think this is pretty solid, since only light—as far as I know—can cause the evolution of Cl₂ and the deposition of Ag⁰ in the classic photo-reaction.Do you have an experiment that you believe best demonstrates the conductiveness of the microtubles?
2·AgCl(aq) + ↝hν ⟶ 2·Ag⁰(s) + Cl₂(g)
But other things could perhaps do this, like CoQ₁₀ or NADH, so I'm not entirely certain. I think maybe it would be a good idea to re-read that article from the standpoint of a science philosopher, like Popper or Kuhn.
But I think a good case of phototransmission can be made by simply by examining the speed of nerve conduction (~100·m/s) and considering the fact microtubles are packed with fluorescent indoles—arranged orderly and symmetrically. So far only physicists have made the analogy between fiber optic transmission and microtubules, but I think it would take a photochemist to realistically-model this—tryptophan-to-tryptophan Förster resonance energy transfer is your friend here; the equations are known but haven't been applied to this; no photochemist or quantum chemist has yet stepped-up to the plate.
If one were to actually do this, they might find that the fluorescent lifetime of tryptophan multiplied by the amount found per microtubule centimeter would match the nerve transmission speed. If this turned-out to be the case, then this would probably be the best circumstantial evidence of intramicrotubule photoconduction.
It could also be examined experimentally—of course—by growing long microtubules, collimating them in bundles, and measuring the speed of light transmission through their centres. Microtubules are grown all of the time, and the chemicals which are necessary from polymerizing tubulin dimers are well-known. First and foremost, guanisine triphosphate is absolutely necessary; this plays a role in the standard model of photoreception, suspiciously found at the scene of the crime wherever microtubules are found. This molecule seems to align the tubulin monomers and could have a role in actually bonding them together. Taxol is a stabilizer, a large floppy saturated macrocyclic ring which holds existing microtubule together. In vivo, pregnenolone and progesterone have this function. Of all steroids tested, pregnenolone binds to microtubules the most—progesterone second. This should be no surprise, as these two steroids are the primary constituents of myelin. The chelator EDTA (or EGTA) is used to chelate calcium, as this ion destabilizes microtubules at over 1·μM. Prolactin has been shown to cause an intracellular Ca²⁺ spike of this magnitude, and a cell needs to break-down it's cytoskeletal framework to divide; this is how Taxol works: freezing microtubules and locking them in the G2 phase of the cell cycle. The steroid 2-methoxyestradiol has been shown to destabilize microtubules, and colchicine is that classic microtubule depolymerizer.
I would think that they would be able to grow microtubules to nearly any length, but perhaps they'd get too floppy and break apart at a certain distance? Regardless, I think it could be done—perhaps with taxol/pregnenolone at high concentrations, in an elongated vessel. The water could be slowly evaporated, which would concentrate the taxol/pregnenolone causing it to precipitate. A synthetic nerve.
Or perhaps they could just find one pre-made, like from an animal?
I think heme, like chlorophyll, transforms photons into electrons—and vice-versa (as does G. Albrecht‐Buehler). Someone wrote a good article a few years ago who presented a good case that one electron is actually two photons combined. I get the feeling that this is correct, and things like fluorescence and the photoelectric effect seem to make more sense this way.
Consider this: The speed of electricity in a wire approaches the speed of light, yet the drift velocity—the speed of individual electrons—is around 20·µm/s. What is actually carrying the charge here? Can what we know about surface plasma polaritons help us understand this? Why does the speed of electricity approach the speed of light and not, say . . . the speed of sound? Why do electrons and photons have so many parallels?
Consider this: When a metal composing an electron sea is heated, it glows and emits photons. This is usually explained by the idea that the heat energy raises electrons to a higher atomic shell.. . . . . . ..after which a photon is emitted upon relaxation to its ground state. In this way, photons are seen as the difference in energy between atomic shells (the Bohr model). So photons are, technically, differences in energy between atomic shells. Particles (photons) have become differences in energy, and energetic differences have created particles out of nothing.
- Would this be better explained by the electrons actually becoming photons in a 1:2 ratio?
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