Physiological Electric Fields can Influence Cell Motility, Growth, and Polarity

Abstract

The revival of interest in the role of electric fields in guiding cell motility, growth, and polarization that has occurred over the past five years has led to several important discoveries that can be used to stimulate further investigations in this field and lead to useful clinical applications. The chapter discusses the most significant of these findings because they can be used to guide future research. Physiological electric-field strengths fall into the range of 1–200mV/mm and the application of much larger field strengths should be avoided by those interested in natural cellular behavior. The threshold level for galvanotaxis and galvanotropism may be as much as an order of magnitude lower than this after cells have been sensitized to the field, or when they are exposed to non-uniform fields. These are clearly very important areas for further research because the lower the threshold-field strength, the more likely it is that the cells will encounter those fields in vivo and would be using them to guide cellular functions.