Pseudo-Spin Model for the Cytoskeletal Microtubule Surface

Due to the inherent symmetry structures and the electric properties in the microtubule (MT), we treat the MT as a one-dimensional ferroelectric system and describe the nonlinear dynamics of dimer electric dipoles in one protofilament of the MT by virtue of the double-well potential. Consequently, the physical problem has been mapped onto the pseudo-spin system, and the mean-field approximation has been taken to obtain some physical results, including the expression for the phase transition temperature T_c and the estimated value of T_c (≈312 K).