Biological complexity: cells move by electric charges (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, December 08, 2022, 20:28 (506 days ago) @ David Turell

Studying the cell's insides:

https://phys.org/news/2022-12-cell-electrical-side-membrane-scientists.html

"Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say that a key to cellular movement is to regulate the electrical charge on the interior side of the cell membrane, potentially paving the way for understanding cancer, immune cell and other types of cell motion.

"Their experiments in immune cells and amoeba show that an abundance of negative charges lining the interior surface of the membrane can activate pathways of lipids, enzymes and other proteins responsible for nudging a cell in a certain direction.

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'Banerjee had a hunch that a general biophysical property, such as electrical charge, rather than a specific molecule, could be stimulating and organizing the activities of enzymes and other proteins related to cell movement.

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"'Our cells are moving within our body more than we imagine," says Peter Devreotes, Ph.D., the Isaac Morris and Lucille Elizabeth Hay Professor and Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Cell Biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "Cells move to perform many functions, including when they engulf nutrients or when they divide."

"Many of the molecules involved in cell movement become activated in the leading edge of the cell, or where it forms a kind of foot, or protrusion, that orients the cell in a particular direction.

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"They found that when and where the cells formed protrusions, there was a corresponding reduction of negative electrical charge along the inner membrane. Alternatively, along the cells' resting membrane surface, the electrical charge increased, which contributes in recruiting more positively charged proteins.

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"'The negative surface charge seems to be sufficient and necessary to activate a cascade of biomolecular reactions that have been linked to cell movement," says Banerjee.

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"Next, the scientists are planning to study precisely how and when the electrical charges are reduced along the inner membrane in response to external cues and how, exactly, the negative charges connect with the complicated protein and lipid signaling networks that prompt cell movement and other associated physiological processes."

Comment: it appears that these are automatic processes to more toward a stimulus.