TGD diary: Delayed luminescence for microtubules, quantum gravitation, and the mechanism of anesthesia

Jack Tuszynksi has reported very interesting findings in Science of Consciousness 2022 (see this). The findings are described in a popular article (see this).

A delayed luminescence in microtubules (MTs) irradiated by laser light has been observed. This can be seen as a support for the presence of quantum coherence at least in the scale of MTs. Also it was found that the application of anesthetics (such as noble gas Xenon expected to have very weak chemical effects) shortens the delay time. This suggests the reduction of quantum coherence by anesthetics so that quantum coherence in long scales should be crucial for consciousness. One of the challenges is to understand the reason for the reduction of quantum coherence.

Delayed luminescence has been associated with bio-photons a long time ago and DNA is proposed to serve as the seat of the delayed luminescence. In particular, the group led by Tuszynski has studied (see this) the emission of mitochondrial biophotons and their effect on electrical activity of the membrane via MTs. A TGD based view of biophotons as decay products of dark photons is discussed in (see this and this) .

To my opinion, the findings represented by Tuszynksi provide support for quantum consciousness but not specifically for Orch-OR, which still remains a rather poorly defined approach since the statement that Planck scale quantum gravity effects are crucial for consciousness has no concrete content.

In the TGD based view of cell and neuronal membrane, nerve pulse and EEG magnetic body magnetic body (MB) plays a key role.

MB has several layers labelled by effective Planck constant h_eff and the gravitational magnetic body with gigantic value of h_eff=h_gr=GMm/v₀ corresponds to the longest scale of quantum coherence and would perform higher level control by controlling metabolism.
h_eff=nh₀ is a purely number theoretical notion - n is the dimension of the extension of rationals assignable to the space-time region determined basically by a polynomial of a real variable - and emerges in TGD based vision about cognition involving what I call adelic physics (see this and this).
MB has a long range coherence and uses the biological body as a sensory receptor and motor instrument. Gravitational MB has a huge value of ℏ_eff= ℏ_gr= GMm/v₀: ℏ_gr is the gravitational Planck constant introduced originally by Nottale. MB is responsible for quantum control in very long scales. Quantum gravitation would be involved but in a very different sense than in the Orch-OR approach, where Planck scale dynamics is assumed.
In this view, cell membranes act as Josephson junctions and communicate sensory input to the magnetic body (MB) of the system as dark Josephson radiation. MB in turn controls the cell by dark cyclotron radiation produced as pulses as MB receives frequency modulated Josephson radiation resonantly.
The TGD based interpretation of findings of Tuszynski would be that the laser beam serves as a metabolic energy feed increasing the value of h_eff and therefore the scale of quantum coherence. One can say that this metabolic energy feed creates or wakes up an analog of a conscious living organism: now at the level of microtubular MB. As it "dies" in "big" state function reduction (BSFR) involving the reduction of h_eff to a smaller value, not necessarily the normal value h_eff=h, the loaded metabolic energy is liberated.
This would not apply only to MTs but quite generally. For instance, biophoton emission from cut leaves, would represent a similar decay process. Biophotons would be ordinary photons resulting as decay products of dark photon BE condensates and dark photons emitted with cyclotron Bose-Einstein condensates decay.

I have quite recently developed a rather detailed TGD inspired view of the role of quantum gravitation in metabolism. One can say that quantum gravitation distinguishes between chemistry and biochemistry. Quantum gravitation would play a key role in metabolism, biocatalysis, and in the TGD based view about DNA. This view and some of its latest applications are discussed here.

Gravitational MBs of Earth and Sun, which consist of very long loop-like flux tubes characterized by ℏ_gr, explain the findings of Blackman and others, are of special interest and assumed to play a key role in metabolism.
Gravitationally dark protons would be associated with very long gravitationally dark hydrogen bonds (HBs) so that hydrogen is effectively negatively ionized.
Gravitationally dark electrons or their Cooper pairs would in turn accompany gravitationally dark valence bonds (VBs) connecting metal atoms or their Cooper pairs with molecules of opposite valence (hydrogen peroxide H₂O₂). Also the metal atom is effectively ionized. This provides a more accurate view of dark metal ions assumed to play a central role in the TGD inspired quantum biology.
The ordinary hydrogen-/valence bond reconnects with a pre-existing very long flattened square type closed gravitational flux tube and becomes a very long gravitational bond and the proton/electron Cooper pair is delocalized to the gravitational flux tube.
The delocalization at the very long gravitational flux tube having size scale of Earth implies that the proton/electron or electron Cooper pair does not contribute to the effective charge of an electronegative atom having gravitational HB with the hydrogen of water molecule. Therefore the hydrogen/metal atom looks like a negative/positive ion in short scales. Negatively charged phosphates associated with DNA nucleotides would be only effectively negatively charged. In the case of salts, metallic atoms form a dark salt with hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) molecule and one has effectively a positive doubly charged e ion or Cooper pair of singly charged ions.
The formation of dark gravitational HB requires metabolic energy feed since it reduces the gravitational potential energy. Solar radiation provides this energy in photosynthesis. The reduction of dark gravitational HB to ordinary HB in turn liberates this energy. Thus the flux tubes of the dark gravitational MB serve as metabolic energy storages. A new form of metabolism associated with dark electron Cooper pairs. As a matter of fact, triplets of dark protons are required to get a value .55 eV of metabolic energy quantum. In the same manner triplets of dark electron Cooper pairs are required to get an electronic metabolic energy quantum of .55 mV. The model poses strong constraints on the values of gravitational potentials and radii of the astrophysical objects involved. Amazingly, Earth and the moon of Jupier known as Europa satisfy these constraints.
The delocalization mechanism also allows effective charge densities in short scales and could have dramatic implications for the model of nerve pulse. The nerve pulse need not correspond to a generation of ohmic currents through the membrane but to effective ionization or its reverse process due to the transformation of hydrogen and valence bonds to dark gravitational bonds.
MTs could play an important role since they involve GTPs as analogs of ATPs and are thus involved with metabolism. The conduction of nerve pulse in the sense of the Hodgkin-Huxley model through myelinated sections of axons is very difficult to understand. The new view would allow the shortening and lengthening of MTs to change the effective charge density of MTs so that membrane potential would change and nerve pulse conduction in the TGD sense would be possible.

How could one understand the effect of anesthetics? I have considered this problem earlier. First one should try to understand how the critical dynamics of MTs relates to nerve pulse conduction inside myelinated regions of the axon.

Certainly the membrane potential should become hyperpolarized to prevent nerve pulse conduction so that consciousness would be lost. This requires that the effective charge densities inside and outside neural and axonal membranes are changed. Usually this would require flow of charge through the cell membrane. In the TGD framework it could be enough that the effective charge inside the axonal interior becomes less negative to create an effective nerve pulse.
If the anesthetic induces the transformation of gravitationally dark HBs (VBs) to ordinary ones in the interior of the axon, the effective charge of the axon becomes more (less) negative and the axonal potential becomes more (less) negative. MTs have GTPs near their ends and GDPs in the intermediate region. Negative charges of GTPs and GDPs would naturally correspond to gravitational HBs.
The variation of MT lengths involves a transformation of GTPs to GDPs and vice versa. This would change the effective charge density of the MTs and affect the membrane potential. If gravitational HBs become ordinary, metabolic energy is liberated and vice versa. Hyperpolarization would require a generation of reconnections and a local change of the MT lengths.
The variation of the lengths of axonal MTs would induce effective negative charge near the growing end of MT. Could the moving depolarization front of the axonal membrane correspond to an increasing GDP region of an axonal MT?
Note: Also the transformation of metallic valence bonds to their dark variants and vice versa could control the membrane potential. Ca^{++ waves would result in cell interior when valence electron pairs of Ca atoms or their salts become gravitationally dark. This would make the axonal interior more negative.}

How the presence of noble gas having very weak chemical interactions could affect the nerve pulse conduction inside the axon?

Could the anesthetic freeze the dynamics of MTs so that nerve pulse conduction would become impossible? The presence of an anesthetic should make the axonal interior more negative and induce hyperpolarization.
Could the presence of the anesthetic stabilize the MT by minimizing the length of its GDP region? Somehow the growth of MT should be prevented means addition of tubulins and GTPs. This is achieved if the density of tubulin-GTP pairs in axonal water is reduced. The generation of GTP from GDP requires a formation of gravitational HBs from ordinary HBs. The density of ordinary HBs should be reduced.
Could the presence of the anesthetic reduce the density of ordinary HBs in the axonal water? HBs are associated with water clusters. Could the presence of anesthetic in the lipid layer reduce the rate for the generation of water clusters and therefore HBs in the axonal water?
In the TGD inspired theory consciousness, the MBs of water clusters can be seen as correlates for mental images of water as a conscious entity (see this and this). The level of consciousness for water would be reduced. Water would be anesthetized and this would freeze the MTs in turn freezing the axonal membrane.
Meyer and Overton observed that the potency of anaesthetic agents correlates with their lipid solubility. Anesthetics also seem to affect specific ion channels and receptors. One can argue that if the anesthetic is solvable to lipids, it can enter also inside the axon and somehow reduce the density of HBs assignable to the water molecule clusters accompanied by gravitational MBs. The effective charge of the axonal interior would become more negative and induce a hyperpolarization if the exterior is not affected.
How could anesthetics anesthetize water? A hint comes from the Pollack effect (see this. The exclusion zones discovered by Pollack are negatively charged regions at the interfaces of hydrophilic surfaces. The TGD based interpretation could be that part of protons become dark protons at gravitational HBs. It is known that anesthetics diminish the amount of EZ water (see this).
How could anesthetics prevent the formation of EZs and thus of gravitational HBs? A metabolic energy feed is needed in Pollack effect and is by photons as also the delayed luminescence for MTs demonstrates. How could the feed of photons needed to produce EZs be prevented by anesthetics? Energy is feeded in resonance. Could the presence of anesthetic change the energy needed to transform HB to dark gravitational MB so that the resonance condition would not be satisfied.