Loading...
More than 150 years ago, Emil Du Bois Reymond attached a galvanometer to his cut finger and noted that a 1-µ ampere current could be measured flowing outward from the injured area. His intellectual progeny have probed the mechanism behind this phenomenon and have shown that bioelectric currents are essential for keratinocyte migration during wound healing. These authors discuss the possible clinical implications of research by Zhao and colleagues (see Nature 2006; 442:457) concerning electrical signal control in wound healing.
These currents are profoundly influenced by two signaling pathways that regulate PIP3 (phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-triphosphate) at the leading edge of the migrating cell: The phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase-γ (PI3Kγ) …