The discovery can be useful for creating advanced sensors or electronic ligasures that enjoy these “screams” to promote faster cure.
A new published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that the epithelial cells that line our skin and our organs can send bioelectric signs of help when they are injured, such as neurons. However, unlike the rapid impulses of nerve cells, these epithelial signs travel at a much slower rhythm – about 1000 times slower.
The study challenges longtime belief that epithelial cells are “seedlings” when it comes to bioelectric communication. The discoveries can make the way to advanced biomedical devicessuch as electronic ligasures that promote faster wound healing.
The human body depends on bioelectric communication for many essential functions, from the reflex responses to the regulation of heart rhythm. So far, the electrical signaling has been mainly associated with neurons and muscle cells. However, polymate Steve Granick and biomedical engineer Sun-Min Yu have conceived an experience to test whether epithelial cells also participate in bioelectric communication.
Researchers used a chip connected to a set of 60 electrodeswhich was then covered with a single layer of human keratinocytes cultivated in the laboratory – the main cells that make up the outer layer of the skin. When they “stipped” the layer with a laser, they observed electrical signs that propagated from the injury site.
“We accompanied the way the cells coordinated their answer,” explained Yu. “It is an excited conversation and in slow chamber”.
The signs traveled about 10 millimeters per second and extended to hundreds of microimeters from the wound site. Unlike neuronal signs, which depend on voltage or chemical changes, the epithelial response seems to be conducted by ionic channels Sensitive to mechanical stimuli, such as pressure or stretch, explains the.
The signs generated by epithelial cells also lasted significantly longer than neuronal communication, with some “conversations” persist up to five hours. However, the force of voltage and the transmission pattern had similarities to neural signaling, suggesting a complex bioelectric network that scientists are just beginning to understand.
Although much remains unknown, the first results suggest that the calcium play a key role in this chain of events.
In understanding way how the cells “scream” For each other when injured, researchers can develop advanced sensors or electronic ligasures that take advantage of these signs to promote faster cure.
“Understand these screams between wounded cells Opens doors We didn’t know they existed, ”said Yu.
