https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-025-01941-0
Regular Article
Information and energy in mammalian axons under ion channel blockage
Department of Physics, Central China Normal University, 430079, Wuhan, China
a
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Received:
1
July
2025
Accepted:
7
September
2025
Published online:
23
September
2025
Abstract
Axons are key structures in neurons that conduct electrical signals, and their information transmission and energy metabolism are closely dependent on action potentials generated by ion channels. Ion channel obstruction affects the discharge characteristics and metabolic cost of axons, thereby affecting axonal function. In this paper, we investigate a mammalian myelinated axon model and, by adjusting the ion channel blockage ratios to simulate the blocking effects of tetraethylammonium and tetrodotoxin on potassium and sodium channels, respectively, assess the performance of axonal information transmission and energy metabolism under sodium and potassium ion channel blockage using information theory and energy calculation methods of equivalent circuits. We find that the opening of sodium ion channels contributes to information capacity and coding efficiency, but simultaneously increases energy consumption and reduces energy efficiency, whereas potassium ion channel blockage reduces energy consumption while improving coding efficiency. This reflects a trade-off between information and energy, revealing a possible regulatory mechanism in the nervous system between optimizing information transfer and energy utilization.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
