Biological Oscillators

Abstract

There are many oscillatory processes within biological systems. The whole human body is a complex system of coupled and synchronized oscillators. The mode of coupling can be very different. Oscillatory processes exist at almost every scale in human body: from systems of organs to subcellular structures and molecules. Using knowledge from several scientific fields (biology, medicine, theory of oscillations, theory of elasticity, rheology, non-linear dynamics), a complex multidisciplinary methodology for studying a wide class of oscillatory biodynamic models has been set. The principle of phenomenological mapping has been used in developing each of the oscillatory models of biological oscillators. In this review, oscillatory models of three different structures will be presented: the oscillatory model of double DNA chain helix, oscillatory model of zona pellucida and conditions for successful fertilisation, and oscillatory model of the mitotic spindle. These models are based on oscillations of chain systems. The DNA double helix is considered as a molecular biological oscillator, mitotic spindle as a subcellular system of coupled oscillators, and zona pellucida as an oscillating spherical net of cross-chains of oscillators that envelopes the female reproductive cell – the oocyte, at the surface of which an interaction with male reproductive cell- spermatozoa occurs. Assumptions of mathematical oscillatory models are presented as well as conditions for resonance. Some numerical analysis are also presented.