Changing natural electrical signaling
in non-neural cells improves innate immune response to bacterial infections and
injury. Tadpoles that received therapeutics, including those used in humans for
other purposes, which depolarized their cells had higher survival rates when
infected with E. coli than controls.
The research has applications for treatment of emerging diseases and traumatic
injury in humans.
Transmembrane potential (Vmem) --
voltage potential caused by differences in negative and positive ions on
opposite sides of a cell's membrane -- is known to play a critical role in many
essential functions in numerous cell types, and the researchers hypothesized
that it also could affect innate immunity. In the study, embryonic Xenopus laevis frogs infected with human
pathogenic E. coli bacteria were
exposed to compounds, including some used in human medicine, to either
depolarize (positively charge) or hyperpolarize (negatively charge) their
cells. Developing X. laevis frogs are
a popular model for regenerative, developmental, cancer and neurobiological
studies.
See:
Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle