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Mechanism of Nerve Signaling
Winner, BioImages 2019 Medical Illustration Citation of Merit
The prevailing theory of nerve signal propagation holds that signals are transmitted via depolarization of membrane potential. This involves voltage gated ion channels and cross-membrane ion movement (top left inset).
A more recent theory of nerve signaling (the Heimburg model) describes the signal instead as a physical wave through the axon membrane (bottom right inset).
This visual was created with Maxon Cinema4D, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator.
Fox, Douglas. 2018. “The Brain, Reimagined.” Scientific American 318(4): 65.