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Audible sound can affect genetic activity in rat cells, increasing the connection of muscle precursors to the surrounding tissue and decreasing fat accumulation.
Cells in your ears are not the only ones to “listen”: a recent study suggests that crucial cells throughout the body can react the audible sound.
The study, which was presented in a published in the Communications Biologywill reveal but 100 genes whose activity has changed in response to these acoustic waves, pointing to possible medical applications.
Previous studies showed that the ultrasound – Sound at frequencies higher than humans can hear – can affect biology in many ways; The new study expands this concept to audible soundsthat do not require special equipment to be produced.
According to, the team of Masahiro KumetaBiologist at the University of Kyoto and the main author of the study, he exposed Myoblast cells of cultivated rat (precursors of muscle tissue) to different sounds.
The cells were directly exposed to sounds of a low frequency (440 HERTZ, Over Central), a high frequency (14 kilohertz, approaching the top of the perceptible range for humans), or white noise (which contains all audible frequencies) Culture signs for two or 24 hours.
The team analyzed the effect that these sound waves had in rat cells through the sequencing of Arn, which measures genetic activity, and found that the Activity in 42 genes changed after two hoursand 145 responded after 24 hours.
Most genes showed increased activitybut some were suppressed. “It is a very extensive and thorough study,” the researcher Scientific explains Lani yoof the Queen’s University, in Ontario, which studies the way bone cells translate mechanical stimuli into biological signs.
Many of the affected genes have Key Process Roles As a cellular adhesion and migration, which are known to respond to mechanical forces.
The researchers found that The sound expanded the size of the locals where cells bind to surrounding tissues, most likely through the activation of an enzyme called focal adhesion kinase (FAK), which detects mechanical forces and helps guide the development of the fabric.
Sound waves seem to deform molecules in order to provide easier access to a chemical switch that activates FAK, which in turn influences a other gene activity chain.
The team also found a strong reaction in precursors of adipose cells called pre-adipocyte: Sound has suppressed its differentiation in mature adipose cells, thus reducing fat accumulation by 13 to 15 %.
“Audible sound is noninvasive And probably safer than medicines, ”says Masahiro Kumeta. Although it can’t be focused as accurately as ultrasound, It is easy to produce and could be useful to bathe large regions of the body in Solnical Waves.
Kumeta and his colleagues have already started studying such interventions to suppress the Development of adipose tissue In living rats – and humans could be next. “If it works well in rats, I think this could be achieved in five or 10 years,” says the investigator.
Other potential applications include improve regenerative medicine and combat the growth of cancer. “The next step could be to use not only human cells but human organoids that model diseases“Says You.
