Modeling of the axon membrane skeleton structure and implications for its mechanical properties
Fig 4
Membrane skeleton dynamics simulations.
(A) The membrane skeleton was equilibrated at a distance of approximately 185 nm between actin rings while the trajectory of ankyrin particles (insert) was recorded for 10×106 time steps every 105 time steps. (B) The skeleton was equilibrated at a distance of approximately 110 nm between actin rings while the trajectory of ankyrin particles (insert) was recorded for 10×106 105 time steps. (C, D) Normalized probability distribution of the ratio d(z)/Lc, where d(z) is the deviation of an ankyrin point from its mean position during its thermal motion along the z-direction and Lc is the mean distance between two consecutive ankyrin points along the z-direction when the spectrin is under tension Lc = 185.78 nm (C) and when the spectrin is almost at equilibrium Lc = 112.32 nm (D). The longitudinal and circumferential separations of the trajectories of neighboring ankyrin particles, and consequently of the corresponding Nav channels, are well-defined in (A) but not in (B).
