Electrophysiology of pumpkin seeds: Memristors in vivo

Abstract

Leon Chua, the discoverer of a memristor, theoretically predicted that voltage gated ion channels can be memristors. We recently found memristors in different plants such as the Venus flytrap, Mimosa pudica, Aloe vera, apple fruits, and in potato tubers. There are no publications in literature about the existence of memristors in seeds. The goal of this work was to discover if pumpkin seeds might have memristors. We selected Cucurbita pepo L., cv. Cinderella, Cucurbita maxima L. cv Warty Goblin, and Cucurbita maxima L., cv. Jarrahdale seeds for this analysis. In these seeds, we found the presence of resistors with memory. The analysis was based on cyclic voltammetry where a memristor should manifest itself as a nonlinear two-terminal electrical element, which exhibits a pinched hysteresis loop on a current-voltage plane for any bipolar cyclic voltage input signal. Dry dormant pumpkin seeds have very high electrical resistance without memristive properties. The electrostimulation by bipolar sinusoidal or triangular periodic waves induces electrical responses in imbibed pumpkin seeds with fingerprints of memristors. Tetraethylammonium chloride, an inhibitor of voltage gated K(+) channels, transforms a memristor to a resistor in pumpkin seeds. NPPB (5-Nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid) inhibits the memristive properties of imbibed pumpkin seeds. The discovery of memristors in pumpkin seeds creates a new direction in the understanding of electrophysiological phenomena in seeds.

Bioderived materials for stimuli-responsive, adaptive, and neuromorphic systems: A perspective

“…Memory and signaling in plants have been well documented, 125,126 though the mechanisms behind them are still being investigated. Volkov et al performed a series of electrical experiments on several plant species: venus flytrap, 127 Mimosa pudica , 123 aloe vera, 128 potato tubers, 129 pumpkin seeds, 130 apples, 131 and impatiens flowers 132 in search of evidence of resitive memory. These plants were selected because some are model organisms for the study of plant electrophysiology and autonomous motion (venus flytrap, M. pudica ), while the others were included to cover a range of different plant and tissue types.…”

Transient Response and Firing Behaviors of Memristive Neuron Circuit

“…The ion channel of the neuron affects the signal propagation in the nervous system, and it has been proved that the memristor is an electronic analog device for mimicking the ion channel in the HH model (Feali and Ahmadi, 2017 ). It is mainly because the memristor shares the voltage-controlled characteristic with ion channels in neurons (Volkov et al, 2016 ). Therefore, the designed memristive Hodgkin-Huxley neuron model is realized by replacing the ion channel with the memristor (Hu and Liu, 2019 ) to present the dynamic properties in neurons.…”

Plasma Seeds: Cold Plasma Accelerates Phaseolus Vulgaris Seed Imbibition, Germination, and Speed of Seedling Growth

“…7 Typical seed germination is triggered by absorption of water, which leads to activation of metabolism, ion channels, and other processes. 23 It is also known that CP can modify the wettability of plant seeds such as lentil, bean, and wheat. 10,11 Hydrophilization of seed coats induced by plasma is important, and so it is the focus of this paper.…”