Electromagnetic Propagation Models in Nerve Fibers

Electrical signal transmission in conductive channels would entail the phenomenon of electromagnetic wave propagation. In nerve fibers, however, the established Hodgkin-Huxley model treats the saltatory conduction between nodes-of-Ranvier separated by Myelin sheaths as a purely electric-field capacitive charging-discharging effect. The celebrated model could accurately explain most of the experimental observations of simple nerve fibers found in squids, shrimps and earthworms, but may fail to explain some of the observations for complex mammalian nerve fibers. In this talk, we explore some of the alternative models and analyze their advantages and disadvantages, while proposing that electromagnetic transmission models may be more suitable to explain nerve conduction in myelinated nerve fibers.