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Neuroscience of water molecules: a salute to professor Linus Carl Pauling

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Abstract

More than 35 years ago double Nobel laureate Linus Carl Pauling published a powerful model of the molecular mechanism of general anesthesia, generally referred to as the hydrate-microcrystal (aqueous-phase) theory. This hypothesis, based on the molecular behavior of water molecules, did not receive serious attention during Pauling’s life time, when scientific tools for examining complex systems such as the brain were still in their infancy. The situation has since drastically changed, and, now, in the twenty first century, many scientific tools are available for examining different types of complex systems. The discovery of aquaporin-4, a subtype of water channel abundantly expressed in glial systems, further highlighted the concept that the dynamics of water molecules in the cerebral cortex play an important role in important physiological brain functions including consciousness and information processing.

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Notes

  1. Currently, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (Monbu Kagaku Sho).

  2. See simulation at http://coe.bri.niigata-u.ac.jp/content/VTheory_en

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Acknowledgments

The concept was presented in part at various national and international scientific meetings including Neuroscience 2006, Atlanta, GA, USA, October 14–18, 2006, and 5th World AMN-Congress, Düsseldorf, Germany, May 10–12, 2007. The study was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (Japan), University of Niigata Suzuken Memorial Foundation, and the Uehara Memorial Foundation.

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  1. Center for Integrated Human Brain Science, Brain Research Institute, University of Niigata, 1 Asahimachi, Niigata, 951-8585, Japan

    Tsutomu Nakada

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Correspondence to Tsutomu Nakada.

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Nakada, T. Neuroscience of water molecules: a salute to professor Linus Carl Pauling. Cytotechnology 59, 145–152 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-009-9216-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-009-9216-x

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