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The sodium-potassium pump is an information processing element in brain computation

M. Forrest

Published 2014 in Frontiers in Physiology

ABSTRACT

Brain neurons can transmit signals using a flow of Na+ and K+ ions, which produce an electrical spike called an action potential (AP) (Hodgkin and Huxley, 1952). After an AP, the Na+/K+ pump resets the arrangement of Na+ and K+ ions back to their original positions so that the neuron is then ready to relay another AP when it is called upon to do so (Glitsch, 2001). So, the Na+/K+ pump has a “housekeeping” role rather than a direct role in brain signaling. This is the long-held, entrenched viewpoint. However, novel research upon cerebellar Purkinje neurons suggests that the Na+/K+ pump may have a direct role in brain coding and computation (Forrest, 2008, 2014a,b; Forrest et al., 2009, 2012). This research was conducted in 2006–2007, and presented in a 2008 Ph.D. thesis (Forrest, 2008), but has only been published relatively recently. In the intervening period it was serially rejected by reviewers and journals that were uncomfortable with this re-appraisal of Na+/K+ pump function. Purkinje neurons are found in the cerebellum, responsible for motor control (Ito, 1984).

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