>Subject: Re: Resting "leak" ion channels
>From: Matt Jones jonesmat at ohsu.edu>Date: Fri, 29 October 1999 04:12 PM EDT
>Message-id: <7vcv2j$lin$1 at fremont.ohsu.edu>
>>There are two sources of leak, which can be hard to sort out from each
>other because of the way leak is defined.
>[...]
Hi Matt. first thing i want to say is that i've thoroughly-enjoyed your
'no-nonsense' approach in the discussions you've posted. it's clear that you're
head-over-heals in Love with our Science, and routinely give it what it
deserves.
Good for you... you present Neuroscience at Ohio State in extremely good light.
this 'leakage' question is a very-complicated one, in my view, because there
exist many factors that 'feed-back' into it.
for instance, a neuron's rate of firing 'conditions' its surrounding ionic
reality, which, via glial functionality, which includes glial 'contractile
responses' (see J. J. Chang and W. Hild, J. Cellular and Comparative Phys.,
V53, p139; discussion in AoK, Ap5 (footnote 70)), which, in turn, alter the
physical Geometry (neural topology) in which the glia react, constitutes
highly-significant functionality that 'supercedes' the functionality of
individual channels because it determines the relative 'reactivity'... the
'potency'... of channels' information-carrying capacities.
if, for instance, the glial 'contractile responses' result in a neuron's axonal
arborization Geometry being altered, the neuron's information-processing
functionality is, simultaneously, altered, regardless of what any of its ion
channels are, in fact, doing.
to get the whole picture, one must integrate everything... when one does so,
one arrives at TD E/I-minimization, which occurs within a global
information-processing architecture that's rigorously-mapped with respect to
the body-environment interface, and which remains True to such throughout its
entire extent (except in instances of organic damage).
this new synthesis is a lot, but it's stuff stands verified, and i'd like
very-much to make it available, in its entirity, to others.
i'm so encouraged by your lucid discussions, and how they reflect on
Neuroscience at Ohio State, i'm wondering if folks at Ohio State would be
interested in receiving an extended presentation of NDT's synthesis?
what i've in mind would require some weeks, and would consist of 'just'
covering the material of, say, _Carpenter and Sutin_ from cover-to-cover, with
folks to whom it's known, while 'translating' everything from the 'state' of
the text into NTD's view... with, of course, open-ended opportunity for
questioning, etc.
_Carpenter and Sutin_ is my favorite text, but if folks would prefer some other
text, i'll use the one folks select (bringing along _Carpenter and Sutin_ to
help me bridge between the two).
i'd like very-much to do this. unfortunately, because i'd have to declare
myself ineligible to receive the unemployment compensation that is, currently,
my only 'income', i can't do this sort of thing without a 'stipend' that would
allow me to continue to service my indebtedness to the Credit-Card Science
Foundation'.
i understand that this is an 'unusual' proposal, but folks at OSU will have no
regrets if they can find a way to make it happen. if it's too-much to hope for,
please take it as a compliment that it's because of your serious-mindedness
with respect to our Science that i've reached out to Ohio State, and let it go
at that.
Cheers, ken (K. P. Collins)
