Introduction to bio-potentials

 As Galvani demonstrated that most of the physiological processes were accompanied

with electrical changes.
 This discovery formed the basis of the explanation of the action of living tissues in
terms of bioelectric potentials.
 Human body - Power generating station
(Living tissues) (Generates multiple electric signals)

Internal Source - Muscles and Nerves.

All these signals are picked up from the surface of the body or from within.

This requires electrodes of different types, also there are some parameters like temperature,
blood pressure, respiratory functions.

These parameters are basically non-electrical in nature, are converted into corresponding
electrical signals by various transducers.

 Normal muscular contraction is associated with the migration of ions which

generates potential differences measurable with suitably placed electrodes.

 Potential differences are also generated by the electrochemical changes

accompanied with the conduction of signals along the nerves to or from the
brain.

 All living matter is composed of cells of different types.

 Human cells may vary from 1 micron to 100 microns in diameter, from 1mm to 1m in
length, and have a typical membrane thickness of 0.01micron.

 Bioelectric potentials are generated at a cellular level and the source of these
potentials is ionic in nature.

 A cell consists of an ionic conductor separated from the outside environment by a

semi-permeable membrane which acts as a selective ionic filter to the ions.
The Neuron

The neuron is the cell that uses to detect the outside environment, the internal environment of
their own bodies, to formulate behavioral responses to those signals, and to control their
bodies based on the chosen responses.

 All neurons have a body called a Soma.

 The Soma contains the nucleus and all of the other organelles that are needed to
keep the cell alive and functioning.

 On one side of the neuron are the dendrites, the 'input' side.

 The dendrites are branching structures which connect with the outputs of other
neurons.

 The other end is the 'output'. It contains an axon and ends in a number of synapses
which usually connect to the dendrites of other neurons or are connected directly to
muscles.

 The axon is usually quite long compared to the rest of the neuron.

 Neurons in a resting state normally have a membrane potential around -70mV.

 This means the voltage difference between the fluid on the inside of the cell relative
to the fluid on the outside of the cell is negative.

 The neuron has a pump that actively pumps three Na+ ions out and takes in
two K+ ions. This means that a net positive charge flows out of the neuron.
This is what gives the cell its negative potential.

How is this negative difference maintained?

It is done with ions like Na+, K+, Cl- , and protein anions.

When the neuron transmitters come in contact with the receptors of other neuron, it allows
the ions to flow into the cell and temporarily change the membrane voltage. If the change is
big enough then it will cause an action potential to be fired.
Action Potential & Resting potentials

For a long time, the process of communication between the nerves and their target tissues was a
big unknown for physiologists. With the development of electrophysiology and the discovery
of electrical activity of neurons, it was discovered that the transmission of signals from neurons
to their target tissues is mediated by action potentials. 

An action potential is defined as a sudden, fast, transitory, and propagating change of

the resting membrane potential. Only neurons and muscle cells are capable of generating an
action potential; that property is called the excitability.

Definition

Action potentials are nerve signals. Neurons generate and conduct these signals along their
processes in order to transmit them to the target tissues. Upon stimulation, they will be
stimulated, inhibited, or modulated in some way. 

Steps

But what causes the action potential? From an electrical aspect, it is caused by a stimulus
with certain value expressed in millivolts [mV]. Not all stimuli can cause an action potential.
Adequate stimulus must have a sufficient electrical value which will reduce the negativity of
the nerve cell to the threshold of the action potential. In this manner, there are subthreshold,
threshold, and suprathreshold stimuli. Subthreshold stimuli cannot cause an action
potential. Threshold stimuli are of enough energy or potential to produce an action potential
(nerve impulse). Suprathreshold stimuli also produce an action potential, but their strength is
higher than the threshold stimuli. 

So, an action potential is generated when a stimulus changes the membrane potential to the
values of threshold potential. The threshold potential is usually around -50 to -55 mV. It is
important to know that the action potential behaves upon the all-or-none law. This means that
any subthreshold stimulus will cause nothing, while threshold and suprathreshold stimuli
produce a full response of the excitable cell. 

Is an action potential different depending on whether it’s caused by threshold or

suprathreshold potential? The answer is no. The length and amplitude of an action potential
are always the same. However, increasing the stimulus strength causes an increase in the
frequency of an action potential. An action potential propagates along the nerve fibre without
decreasing or weakening of amplitude and length. In addition, after one action potential is
generated, neurons become refractory to stimuli for a certain period of time in which they
cannot generate another action potential.

Phases

From the aspect of ions, an action potential is caused by temporary changes in membrane
permeability for diffusible ions. These changes cause ion channels to open and the ions to
decrease their concentration gradients. The value of threshold potential depends on the
membrane permeability, intra- and extracellular concentration of ions, and the properties of
the cell membrane. 

An action potential has several phases; hypo polarization, depolarization, overshoot,

repolarization and hyperpolarization.

Hypo polarization is the initial increase of the membrane potential to the value of the threshold
potential. The threshold potential opens voltage-gated sodium channels and causes a large
influx of sodium ions. This phase is called the depolarization. During depolarization, the inside
of the cell becomes more and more electropositive, until the potential gets closer the
electrochemical equilibrium for sodium of +61 mV. This phase of extreme positivity is
the overshoot phase.
After the overshoot, the sodium permeability suddenly decreases due to the closing of its
channels. The overshoot value of the cell potential opens voltage-gated potassium channels,
which causes a large potassium efflux, decreasing the cell’s electro positivity. This phase is
the repolarization phase, whose purpose is to restore the resting membrane potential.
Repolarization always leads first to hyperpolarization, a state in which the membrane potential
is more negative than the default membrane potential. But soon after that, the membrane
establishes again the values of membrane potential.

Depolarization

In biology, depolarization is a positive-going change in a cell's membrane potential, making it

more positive, or less negative. In neurons and some other cells, a large enough
depolarization may result in an action potential.

Hyperpolarization

Hyper polarization is the opposite of depolarization, and inhibits the rise of an action
potential.

Resting potential

The relatively static membrane potential of quiescent cells is called the resting membrane

potential (or resting voltage)
Bio-electric signals:

 Generated by nerve cells and muscle cells.

 Basic source is the cell membrane potential under certain conditions may excite
togenerate an action potential.

 The electric field generated by the action of many cells constitutes the bio-electric
signal.

 The most common examples of bioelectric signals are the ECG, EEG, ERG and EMG
etc…

Classification

Bio-acoustic signals Bio-magnetic signals

Bio-mechanical signals Bio-optical signals

Bio-chemical signals Bio-impedance signals