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. 1997 Sep;23(3):171–179. doi: 10.1023/A:1005092601078

Vibrations in Microtubules

J Pokorný 1,2, F Jelínek 2, V Trkal 2, I Lamprecht 3, R Hölzel 3
PMCID: PMC3456394  PMID: 23345659

Abstract

Vibrations in microtubules and actin filaments are analysed using amethod similar to that employed for description of lattice vibrationsin solid state physics. The derived dispersion relations show thatvibrations in microtubules can have optical and acoustical branches.The highest frequency of vibrations in microtubules and in actinfilaments is of the order of 108 Hz. Vibrations are polar andinteraction with surroundings is mediated by the generatedelectromagnetic field. Supply of energy from hydrolysis of guanosinetriphosphate (GTP) in microtubules and of adenosine triphosphate(ATP) in actin filaments may excite the vibrations.

Keywords: Vibrations in microtubules, Vibrations in actin filaments, Microtubule translation symmetry, Dispersion relation, Energy supply to cyto-skeleton, Hydrolysis of GTP, Hydrolysis of ATP, Fröhlich's condensation in cytoskeleton, Nonlinearity in cytoskeleton

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