Experimental evidence refuting the assumption of phosphorus-31 nuclear-spin entanglement-mediated consciousness.

In mice, increasing calcium ion concentration in the brain did not raise consciousness as previously proposed. Injecting a calcium chelator (EGTA) increased the sevoflurane dose needed to suppress the righting reflex—indicating heightened consciousness—while injecting either calcium-40 or calcium-43 chloride lowered that dose, reducing consciousness. The identical effects of the two calcium isotopes show no isotope dependence, contradicting predictions based on Posner molecules and nuclear-spin entanglement. These findings disprove the conventional idea that calcium ion concentration correlates with consciousness.

Study at a glance

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.