[extropy-chat] Accelerated wound healing by the body electric

[The Avantguardian]

Interesting. They have known for over a century now
that when you are injured, an electric current flows
from the center of the wound toward the edges. Supply
an additional electric current of the proper
characteristics and you can greatly speed up the
healing process or slow it down. Despite New
Scientist's enthusiasm about this, this has been used
for years now. But the cool thing is that they think
they have now pinned down the actual molecular
signaling mechanism: PI-3-kinase and PTEN

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125624.400-to-heal-a-wound-turn-up-the-voltage.html

Nature 442, 457-460(27 July 2006) |
doi:10.1038/nature04925; Received 13 February 2006;
Accepted 15 May 2006

Electrical signals control wound healing through
phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase- and PTEN
Min Zhao1, Bing Song1, Jin Pu1, Teiji Wada2, Brian
Reid1, Guangping Tai1, Fei Wang3,7, Aihua Guo1, Petr
Walczysko1, Yu Gu1, Takehiko Sasaki4, Akira Suzuki5,
John V. Forrester1, Henry R. Bourne3, Peter N.
Devreotes6, Colin D. McCaig1 and Josef M. Penninger2

Top of pageAbstractWound healing is essential for
maintaining the integrity of multicellular organisms.
In every species studied, disruption of an epithelial
layer instantaneously generates endogenous electric
fields, which have been proposed to be important in
wound healing1,2,3. The identity of signalling
pathways that guide both cell migration to electric
cues and electric-field-induced wound healing have not
been elucidated at a genetic level. Here we show that
electric fields, of a strength equal to those detected
endogenously, direct cell migration during wound
healing as a prime directional cue. Manipulation of
endogenous wound electric fields affects wound healing
in vivo. Electric stimulation triggers activation of
Src and inositol–phospholipid signalling, which
polarizes in the direction of cell migration. Notably,
genetic disruption of phosphatidylinositol-3-OH
kinase- (PI(3)K) decreases electric-field-induced
signalling and abolishes directed movements of healing
epithelium in response to electric signals. Deletion
of the tumour suppressor phosphatase and tensin
homolog (PTEN) enhances signalling and electrotactic
responses. These data identify genes essential for
electrical-signal-induced wound healing and show that
PI(3)K and PTEN control electrotaxis.



Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"God doesn't play dice with the universe." - Albert Einstein

"Einstein, don't tell God what to do." - Neils Bohr

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