Exact solitary wavelike solutions in a nonlinear microtubule RLC transmission line

Abstract

Analytically, we study the dynamics of ionic waves in a microtubule modeled by a nonlinear resistor, inductor, and capacitor (RLC) transmission line. We show through the application of a reductive perturbation technique that the network can be reduced in the continuum limit to the dissipative nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The processes of the modulational instability are studied and, motivated with a solitary wave type of solution to the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation, we use the direct method and the Weierstrass's elliptic function method to present classes of solitary wavelike solutions to the dissipative NLS equation of the network. The results suggest that microtubules are the biological structures where short-duration nonlinear waves called electrical envelope solitons can be created and propagated. This work presents a good analytical approach of investigating the propagation of solitary waves through a microtubule modeled by a nonlinear RLC transmission line.