Neurophysiology : Galen

            When we examine the distribution of neural tissue through the Galen body we see striking similarities in neural layout to human physiology, but on closer examination of the tissue we see striking differences in the cell structures, rather than finding the long cytoplasmic processes and spindly structures of human neural dendrites, we see a dense forest of globular cells packed full of the energy generation structures common to Gadarren life forms, and running through this tangle of cells we see optically dark hair like processes that intersect and run through the cells like train tracks stopping at stations. It is this interesting cell structure that shall be further examined.

            Running neural tissue is by no means cheap, and Galen cytology is no different to humans, the relatively small amount of neural tissues is one of the biggest drains on bodily energy, the reason for this is the fact that information processing requires energy, and when cells have to potentially communicate over large distances at high speeds hundreds of times a second, the energy costs mount up.

            However the way in which information is conveyed in Gadarren physiology is fundamentally different to human physiology. Human neurons use long thin extensions of cytoplasm, bound inside membranes, and information is carried along by periodic charge reversals of the membrane by changes in salt gradients. The advantages with this is the fact that these components were relatively easy to evolve, and although messy are relatively energy cheap, if not terribly fast or rapid, but design enhancements have provided more that enough capacity to create our intelligences. Galen physiology is quite different, though the common use of using electrical potentials is the same, Gadarren life has made use of a different evolutionary process, it has used existing cytoplasmic links between cells.

            Intercellular cytoplasmic links are not even that uncommon on Earth, plants have small portals in their membranes linking to the cytoplasm of other cells, plasmadesmata, these ‘tunnels’ to other cells allow the exchange of chemicals without having to go to the troublesome task of making exchanges across memebranes. Though this cytological feature is rather limited in Earth’s biota, it is almost universal in Gadarrens multicellular life forms.

            Early multicellular organisms used neural nets which used their cytoplasmic links to feel the charge encoded in adjacent connected cells, but these early networks had problems, firstly it relied on the fact that the whole cell had to change its charge electric potential, which is relatively slow, secondly the fact that only adjacent cells could communicate limited the complexity of these networks.

            The major breakthrough for life was the use of closed protein cylinders that ran through cytoplasmic tunnels between cells, it was the internal contents of these hollow tunnels that contained the electric potential differences, in effect forming a basis for biological wires. These smaller enclosed regions were advantageous in the fact that it was much quicker to generate and send changes in electric potential through these smaller volumes, also these lines could be sent through many cells allowing networks to be extended to a great many more cells.

            The protein handling method of Gadarren neural tissue allows for some truly fantastic operations, new tubes are simply constructed from tube protein subunits, and the formation of new links and new networks is continuous. There can be junctions and braches between and on pipes, special carrier proteins allow extended function by performing function that can for example, add or subtract from other signals, or to store information. Also as all these processes happen within cells, tubes can be moved and coordinated into new positions by anchorage to mobile parts of the cytoskeleton.

            The impact of this design is only highlighted further when we compare to human physiology, in human physiology we see the use of dedicated nervous tissue, in Gadarren life we see cells that are not involved in neural processes carrying these neural protein filaments somewhat reducing the need for innervation throughout tissues. We also see a reduced distinction between what is and what is not neural tissue, which still to this day has not been fully resolved by neurologists.

            In short Gadarren has produced a nearly unique way of generating and handling information in multicellular organisms, which is more than sufficient to allow for the emergence of intelligent life, this unusual physiology has also provided other races to find new solutions in unraveling the function of their own cell types.