The Physiology of Bioelectricity in Development, Tissue Regeneration and Cancer (Biological Effects of Electromagnetics Series)

Revealing the role of biological electric fields in pathophysiologies such as cancer, this book describes the importance of biological electric fields in regulating physiology at the cellular level and influencing tissue repair and regeneration. Recent advances in technology have led to the unprecedented accuracy in measurements of endogenous electric fields around sites of tissue disruption. State-of-the-art molecular approaches demonstrate the role of bioelectricity in the directionality and speed of cell migration, proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, and orientation. New information indicates that electric fields play a role in initiating and coordinating complex regenerative responses in development and wound repair and that they may also have a part in cancer progression and metastasis. Compiling current research in this rapidly expanding field, Physiology of Bioelectricity in Development, Tissue Regeneration, and Cancer highlights relevant, cutting-edge topics poised to drive the next generation of medical breakthroughs. Chapters consider methods for detecting endogenous electric field gradients and studying applied electric fields in the lab. The book addresses bioelectricity's roles in guiding cell behavior during morphogenesis and orchestrating higher order patterning. It also covers the response of stem cells to applied electric fields, which reveals bioelectricity as an exciting new player in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. This book provides an in-depth exploration of how electric signals control corneal wound repair and skin re-epithelialization, angiogenesis, and inflammation. It also delves into the bioelectric responses of cells derived from the musculoskeletal system, bioelectrical guidance of neurons, and the beneficial application of voltage gradients to promote regeneration in the spinal cord. It concludes with a discussion of bioelectricity and cancer progression and the potential for novel cancer biomarkers, new methods for early detection, and bioelectricity-based therapies to target both the tumor and metastatic cancer cells. This multidisciplinary compilation will benefit biologists, biochemists, biomedical scientists, engineers, dermatologists, and clinicians, or anyone else interested in development, regeneration, cancer, and tissue engineering. It can also serve as an ideal textbook for students in biology, medicine, medical physiology, biophysics, and biomedical engineering Measuring endogenous electric fields / Richard Nuccitelli Investigation systems to study the biological effects of weak physiological electric fields / Francis X. Hart Endogenous bioelectric signals as morphogenetic controls of development, regeneration, and neoplasm / Michael Levin Stem cell physiological responses to noninvasive electrical stimulation / Igor Titushkin ... [et al.] Electrical signals control corneal epithelial cell physiology and wound repair / Colin D. McCaig Physiological electric fields can direct keratinocyte migration and promote healing in chronic wounds / Christine E. Pullar Electrical control of angiogenesis / Entong Wang ... [et al.] Inflammatory cell electrotaxis / Francis Lin and Christine E. Pullar Effects of DC electric fields on migration of cells of the musculoskeletal system / Najmuddin J. Gunja, Clark T. Hung, and J. Chlöe Bulinski Neuronal growth cone guidance by physiological DC electric fields / Ann M. Rajnicek Can applied voltages be used to produce spinal cord regeneration and recovery in humans? / Richard Ben Borgens Bioelectricty of cancer : voltage-gated ion channels and direct-current electric fields / Mustafa B. A. Djamgoz.