A minimal hydrodynamic model for a traffic jam in an axon

Abstract

Traffic jams in long processes of nerve cells (neurons) are linked to such neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer's disease and Down syndrome. These traffic jams cause swellings in the neurons' processes that accumulate large amounts of mitochondria, large multi-vesicular bodies, and other types of intracellular organelles, eventually leading to neuron failure and death. The purpose of this paper is to develop a minimal model for a traffic jam in an axon based on a macroscopic (hydrodynamic) approach to modeling of highway traffic and on a macroscopic model of molecular-motor-assisted transport of intracellular organelles on microtubules.