On effect of chloroform on electrical activity of proteinoids

Abstract

Proteinoids, or thermal proteins, produce hollow microspheres in aqueous solution. Ensembles of the microspheres produce endogenous spikes of electrical activity, similar to that of neurons. To make a first step towards evaluation of the mechanisms of such electrical behaviour we decided to expose proteinoids to chloroform. We found that while chloroform does not inhibit the electrical oscillations of proteinoids it causes substantial changes in the patterns of electrical activity. Namely, incremental chloroform exposure strongly affect proteinoid microsphere electrical activity across multiple metrics. As chloroform levels rise, the spike potential drops from 0.9 mV under control conditions to 0.1 mV at 25 mg/mL. This progressive spike potential decrease suggests chloroform suppresses proteinoid electrical activity. The time between spikes, the interspike period, follows a similar pattern. Minimal chloroform exposure does not change the average inter-spike period, while higher exposures do. It drops from 23.2 min under control experiments to 3.8 min at 25 mg/mL chloroform, indicating increased frequency of the electrical activity. These findings might leads to deeper understanding of the electrical activity of proteinoids and their potential application in the domain of bioelectronics.