Biophotons are photons produced by cellular material. This research focused on biophotons produced by the mitochondria and Nodes of Ranvier in central nervous system neurons. During neural activation, the axon is believed to act as a waveguide for these photons, guiding them to the axon terminal during an action potential. The axon terminal contains many neural molecules and is where neurotransmitters are packaged in vesicles to be released in neurotransmission. The exact role biophotons play in neurotransmission is still unknown. This research investigated the photoexcitation of 8 neurotransmitters (acetylcholine, dopamine, GABA, glutamate, glycine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin) and ATP and ADP and the effect on receptor binding of the molecules. The aim is to develop an understanding of how the interaction of biophotons with the neural molecules affect these molecules' ability to bind to their receptors, and therefore contribute to neurotransmission. Quantum DFT computations, with Gaussian-16, were used to calculate ground and excited (TDDFT) states in an aqueous medium. Changes in geometry, orbitals, molecular energy, and charge density were observed for the molecules between the ground S0 and excited S1, T1 states. Autodock Vina and PyMOL were used to computationally examine the binding affinity of the molecules to their receptors in these different energy states. Glycine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and GABA exhibited strong geometric changes and HOMO/LUMO changes. The binding affinity of acetylcholine to its ionotropic receptor is observed to be 0.2 higher for acetylcholine in its S1 and T1 state than its ground state. This suggests the possibility that the interaction with biophotons allows acetylcholine to bind better to its receptor in its excited states. We are continuing to test excitation effects on the other neurotransmitters.

Computational photoexcitation of neural molecules and receptor binding

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