Experimental evidence refuting the assumption of phosphorus-31 nuclear-spin entanglement-mediated consciousness.
Rong Chen, Na Li, Hao Qian, Rui-Han Zhao, Shi-Hai Zhang
Journal of Integrative Neuroscience December 30, 2020 DOI: 10.31083/j.jin.2020.04.250 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Mice |
| Interventions | EGTA calcium-40 chloride calcium-43 chloride |
| Keywords | Posner molecules Quantum consciousness Anesthesia Entanglement |
| Key findings | Calcium ion concentration does not correlate with consciousness in mice, and calcium isotope dependence is absent. |
Abstract
Phosphorus-31 nuclear-spin entanglements within Ca9(PO4)6 molecules (Posner molecules) have been proposed to be central for neural processing. However, this has yet to be proven experimentally. Relatedly, increasing calcium ion concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid has been proposed to enhance consciousness by accelerating Posner molecules' creation. A dependence on calcium isotope is also expected. Here we test these predictions experimentally by measuring the loss of righting reflex ED50 for mice to sevoflurane - an increase in loss of righting reflex ED50 indicates a higher level of consciousness and vice versa. Our mice's findings demonstrate that intracerebroventricular injection of EGTA enhances the sevoflurane-induced loss of righting reflex ED50 while injecting calcium-40 chloride or calcium-43 chloride causes an opposite effect. Further, the identical effects of calcium-40 and calcium-43 indicate an absence of calcium isotope dependence. Here, our findings disprove conventional proposals that calcium ion concentration correlates with consciousness.