Electron Transfers and Holographic Molecules: Why Neuroscientists Should Take Quantum Phenomena into Consideration

Discoveries concerning the neurotransmission mode of the nerve impulse contributed a lot to the development of modern neurosciences. Neurons release chemical agents, such as neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, which bind to receptors of their target cells, enabling, thus, propagation of nerve impulse from cell to cell. In the nervous system, intercellular exchanges of information take place as bindings of ions or molecules to receptor proteins. These bindings induce changes in the conformation of the proteins which can, in this way, integrate and memorize physical and chemical alterations affecting the surrounding neurons. The researches on learning and memory are based on these concepts. However, the revolutionary advances in quantum physics allowed new hypotheses to be addressed in the functioning of the nervous system, particularly in the brain. Indeed, new technologies based on the application of quantum mechanics were recently devised, such as scanning tunneling microscopy and transient absorption spectroscopy. The use of these methods revealed that quantum particles, like electrons, might play so far unknown roles in the biological processes. Thus, electron transfers by tunneling effect have been evidenced between molecules of the photosynthetic and respiratory chains, retina and DNA. Moreover, such biophysical investigations established that proteins could function as holographic media, integrating and recording multiple particles emissions. These data suggest that, in the nervous system, a single molecule might integrate and memorize, in the shape of wave interference figures, a gigantic amount of physical and chemical signals arising from its surrounding medium.