CHARACTERIZATION OF SIGNAL CONDUCTIONALONG DEMYELINATED AXONS BY ACTION-POTENTIAL-ENCODED SECOND HARMONICGENERATION

Action-potential encoded optical second harmonic generation(SHG)has been recently proposedfor use in det ecting the axonal damage in patients with demnyelinat ing diseases.In this study,thecharact erization of signal conduction along axons of two different levels of denyelination wasstudied via a modified Hodgkin Huxley model,because some types of demyelinating disease,i.e.primary progressive and secondary progesive multiple scleross,are dificult to be distinguishedby magnetic resonance imaging(MRI),we focused on the diferences in signal conduction between two diferent demyelinated axons,such as the first-level demyelination and the second.level demyelination.The spatio-temporal distribution of action potentials along denyelinatedaxons and conduction properties including the refractory period and frequency encoding in theset wo patterns were investigated.The results showed that denyelination could induce the decreaseboth in the amplitude of action potentials and the ability of frequency coding,Furthermore,t hesignal conduction velocity in the second-level dernyelination was about 21%slower than that inthe first-level demyelination.The refractory period in the second-level demyelination was about32%longer t han the first-level.Thus,detecting the signal conduction in demnyelinat ed axons byaction-potential encoded optical SHG could greatly improve the assessment of demyelinatingdisorders to classify the patients.This technique also offers a potential fast and noninvasiveoptical approach for monitoring membrane potential.