Low-Intensity Control of Nerve Tissue Activity

Our book is written primarily for biologists and physicians but also for physicists, engineers, and students who want to understand the mechanisms of stimulation and signal propagation in nervous tissue. It describes in detail the mechanism of ephaptic coupling, which involves the transmission of excitation from an active neuron to a nearby inactive neuron through a conducting intercellular medium. This connection plays an important role in the functioning of the nervous system.

The book explains how the interaction of the axon membrane with the electric field of low-intensity microwave radiation leads to a redistribution of transmembrane ion channels in the region of the initial segment of the axon, resulting in an increase or decrease in the threshold for action potential excitation, depending on the radiation intensity.

To date, the medical community has gained extensive experience in the treatment of paralyzed patients with spinal cord injuries using external electrodes to initiate relatively low currents to stimulate muscle activity or anesthesia. This book presents a theory that explains this phenomenon and the potential benefits of its application in the medical field.

In recent decades, plasma medicine, which studies the interaction of weakly ionized low-temperature non-equilibrium plasma with cellular ensembles in physiological solutions in Petri dishes, has attracted great interest. Plasma ions entering the solution increase the ion density in the solution, which modifies the osmotic pressure and leads to changes in cell morphology. These changes can lead to variations in membrane dielectric permeability, as well as changes in the resting potential and, consequently, action potential excitation thresholds.