The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body (44 page)

Nervous Ætherial Balsam 291

neuromuscular junction 86, 87, 90, 104

   
see also
synapse

neurone 88, 172, 233, 236, 238, 262, 271, 283, 305

   death 250, 270

   effects of anaesthetics 281

   effects of transmitters 52, 254, 260, 278

   hippocampal 250, 267–8

   interconnections 99, 231–2, 246, 269

   mirror 240

   motor 103

   olfactory 216–17

   sensory detection 223, 240

   
see
also
nerve cell

neurotransmitter 85,
89
, 194, 256, 257, 258, 262, 272

   
see also
acetylcholine, dopamine, glycine, glutamate, serotonin

Newton, Isaac 224–5

Nicot, Jean 259

Nicotiana tabacum
(tobacco) 259

nicotine 259–60

nightshade, deadly 166

Nitella
189

nitroglycerin 164

nitrous oxide 278–9, 280

Noble, Andre 76

Noble, Denis 169

nodes of Ranvier 57

Nollé, Abbé (Abbot Nollet) 13, 15

non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep 273

noradenaline 83, 163,167

nucleus accumbens 257, 258, 261, 262

octopus, blue-ringed 71, 72

odorant receptors 216, 217

Ohm, Georg 34, 36

Ohm’s Law 36, 69, 298

olfaction 216–17

olfactory bulb 217

olfactory cilia 216

olfactory neurones 216, 217–18

olfactory receptors 216

opiates 278

opiate receptors 278

opium 223, 277, 278

opsin 195, 196

optic nerve
194,
195, 224, 240

optical illusions 241

optogenetics 271–2

orexin 275

Osiris 118

osmosis 180–81

otoacoustic emissions 209

Ovid 76

oximes 97

oxytocin 261, 262

pacemaker

   artificial 149, 150, 151–3, 304, 309

   heart cells
142,
143, 148, 153, 165

   cardiac rhythm restoration 149–50, 153

   
see also
sinus node

Packer, Kerry 154

pain 55, 95, 121, 163–4, 194, 211, 219–20, 221–2, 236, 302

   brain role 222–3

   chronic 223

   endorphins 278

   erythermalgia 222

   hereditary lack of 222

   relief 223–4, 277–8, 279–80, 286

pair bonding 261

Papaver somniferum
(opium poppy) 277

paramyotonia congenita 107, 108

pareira vine 93

Parkinson’s disease 257, 305–6

patch-clamp method 45–7,
45

peppermint oil 220

perforins 182–3

Peterson, Fred 300–301

Phaethon 10

pheromones 101

photodetection 195–7

photopigment
194
, 195–6, 199, 202

photosynthesis 188–9

phrenology 233

Physostigma venenosum
(Calabar bean) 97–8

physostigmine 97–9

pit organs 221

pitohui 76

place cells 267–8, 276

place map 267–8

plants 76, 113, 173, 181, 184, 186, 220, 258, 259

   action potentials 189–91

   carnivorous 189–90, 315n

   ion channels 171, 186–7, 189, 190

   photosynthesis 187–9

   Southern corn leaf blight 170–71, 186–7

   stomata 188–9

   toxins 76–77, 93, 94, 97–98, 166, 248–9, 252

Plath, Sylvia 294–5

Plato 315n

platypus 132–3

pleasure 215, 257, 262, 277, 304

Poirot, Hercule 229, 252

pollen grain 171, 173, 187

polyspermy, prevention 174

Popper, Karl 87

poppy, opium 277

porcine stress syndrome 114–15

positron emission tomography (PET) 238, 239

postsynaptic cell 88, 92, 99, 251

   definition 82

potassium channel 42, 43, 44, 53

   HERG 159, 162, 169

   in cardiac action potential 159, 161–2, 165

   in muscle action potential 105

   in nerve action potential 66, 68–9, 254, 281

   K
_ATP
channel 1–3, 52, 312n

   long QT syndrome 140–41, 159–62

   migraine 245

   neonatal diabetes 1–4

   photosynthesis 188–9

   selectivity 42, 49–50, 51

   stomatal opening 188–9

   structure 48, 49–51

   voltage sensitivity 69

potassium chloride 167–8

potassium current 66–7, 69

potassium (ion) 37, 38, 42, 92, 107, 158, 165, 312n

   action potential generation 66, 69, 159,

   blood levels 106, 108, 168

   in fluid movement 173, 177, 188–9

   in resting potential generation 43, 62

   ion channel permeation 49–51

   transmembrane concentration gradient 39–41, 43, 44

Powers, Francis Gary 94

prestin 208

presynaptic cell 90, 246

   definition 82

Pringle, John 19

programmed cell death 184–6

Prometheus 16, 312–13n

propofol 280

prosthetic limbs 308–9

protanopia 202

protons 37, 214

   
see also
hydrogen ions

Proust, Marcel 215

prozac 263

Pseudoalteromonas tetraodonis
71–2

Pseudocarcharias kamoharai
(crocodile shark) 129

puffer fish
70
, 54, 69–72, 73–4, 157

Pulvermacher electric belt 292

pupil 166, 193–4,
194

Quincey, Thomas de 277

Quintilian 265–6

radar 63, 134, 196

Raeburn, Paul 187

Raleigh, Walter 259

rapid eye movement (REM) sleep 273–5

red tide 72–3

Reich, Wilhelm 303

reindeer 199

Ren, Dejian 172

repolarization 66

resistance (electrical, Ω) 20, 22, 34–5, 36, 130–31, 136, 298, 302, 303

resting potential 43, 62, 65, 66, 69, 271

retina
194
, 193–5

retinal 195

reward centre of the brain 238, 257, 259, 260, 261, 262, 277

rhodopsin 196, 198

Richman, Georg Wilhelm 17

Ringer, Sydney 158

Ritchie, Murdoch 74–5

RNA 40, 313n

Robespierre, Maximilien 19–20

Rockefeller Foundation 85, 86

rods 194–5, 196–7

rohypnol 283

ryanodine receptors 113–15

Sacks, Oliver 202–3, 266

Sakmann, Bert 44–8

salt-losing syndrome 177

Sant’Agnese, Paul di 178

sarcoplasmic reticulum 113–14,
113

   
see also
calcium stores

sarin 74, 95–6

saxitoxin 72–5

scarlet fever 183

schizophrenia 293–4

Schwann cell 57

scorpion venom 79

Scott, Robert 258

Scott, William 73

Scoville, Wilbur 220

Scribonius Largus 286

seizure 237, 239, 250, 253–5, 267, 293–4, 296, 304

self-awareness 264, 282–3

Senning, Åke 152

sensory nerves 55, 60, 213, 214, 219, 220, 221, 223, 224, 302

serotonin 52, 262–4, 272

serotonin receptors 263, 264, 265

Shackleton, Ernest 258

Shakespeare, William 260–61, 262, 276

shark(s)

   fibre optic cable attacks 128–9

   electroreception 129–32, 314n

shearwater, sooty 249–50

Shelley, Mary 8–9, 16, 28, 284, 310

Shelley, Percy Bysshe 9, 221

shellfish poisoning 71, 73, 250

Simonides 265

Simpson, James 279

sinus (sinoatrial) node
142,
143, 148–9, 151, 153, 163, 165–6

skin

   electrical resistance 128, 298, 302, 303

   gap junction channels 100

Sleeman, William 248

sleep 228, 237, 238, 273–8, 282

   memory 275–6

   narcolepsy 274–5

   non-rapid eye movement (NREM) 273

   rapid eye movement (REM) 273–5

   sudden cardiac death during sleep 140–41, 157, 160–61

smell 213–14, 215–18

smoking 259–60

snake 69, 221

Snow, John 179–80

social hierarchy 137–8, 272

Socrates 95, 117, 314n

sodium channel 44, 78

   Burgada syndrome 157–8

   congenital insensitivity to pain 222

   epithelial 175–7, 214

   erythermalgia 222

   hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis 106–8

   inactivation 69

   in heart action potential 157–8

   in muscle action potential 104, 105

   in nerve action potential 65, 66, 68–9

   Liddle’s disease 177

   Nav1.7 222–4

   pain perception 222, 223–4

   paramyotonia congenital 107

   salt-losing syndrome 177

   SCN5A 157

   selectivity 42

   toxins (blockers) 54, 70–75, 78

   toxins (openers) 75–8

   voltage sensitivity 69

   
see also
saxitoxin, tetrodotoxin

sodium chloride 41, 145, 176, 178

sodium current 64–5, 69, 89

sodium (ion) 37, 44, 51, 79,
8
, 189, 197, 214, 260

   blood pressure regulation 176–7

   fluid uptake 175, 176

   in action potential 64–5, 69, 106

   transmembrane concentration gradient 39–40,
39
, 44,125

sodium pump 39–40, 125

somatosensory system 235–6

sound 21, 132, 203–12, 226, 235–6, 243–4, 315n

Soup Wars 250–51

Southern corn leaf blight 170–71, 186–7

speech 70, 209, 234–5, 307

sperm 172–4

spider, black widow 90

spiny anteater 133

squid 61, 64, 67–8, 99

squid axon 61–3, 66, 68

Staphylococcus aureus,
alpha-toxin 183

Staphylococcus pyogenes
183

startle disease 251–2

static electricity 9–11, 11–13, 16, 22, 297

   amber 10–11

   
see also
electrostatic generator, Leyden jar

stereocilia 206, 207

stiff-baby syndrome 251–2

stomata 188–9

stroke 149, 176, 229–30, 235, 242, 260