Galvanotaxis

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Galvanotaxis (named after the Italian anatomist and biophysicist Luigi Galvani and ancient Greek τάξις, taxis = order, deployment), sometimes also called electrotaxis , describes the phenomenon that some living beings turn to one of the poles in an existing electrical field . Galvanotaxis must be differentiated from galvanotropism , in which the growth follows the direction of the electric field.

causes

Galvanotaxis is observed in protozoa (e.g. amoebas ), earthworms and starfish, but also in individual human and animal cells. Electric signals and electric fields are physiological features of human and animal organisms. The influence of these body's own electrical forces on the cells is called galvanotaxis. In the electric field, most of the membrane receptors are concentrated on one side of the cell. Although the signal substances in the environment do not increase, several receptors are activated on this cell side. This side becomes the leading side of cell movement.

literature

  • AR Moore: Galvanotaxis in earthworms , Journal of gen. Physiol. Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 452-459. 1923, Journal Naturwissenschaften, Verlag Springer Berlin, ISSN  0028-1042
  • Boris Birukoff: On the theory of galvanotaxis , 1904, archive for anatomy and physiology
  • Josef Breuer : About galvanotropism in fish , in: Zbl. Physiol., Wien 16 (1902), pp. 481-483

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roland Glaser: Biophysics . Springer, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-540-67088-2 , pp. 265 .
  2. ↑ McCaig CD, Rajnicek AM, Song B, Zhao M: Controlling cell behavior electrically: current views and future potential . In: Physiol. Rev. . 85, No. 3, July 2005, pp. 943-78. doi : 10.1152 / physrev.00020.2004 . PMID 15987799 .
  3. ↑ Zhao M, Song B, Pu J, et al. : Electrical signals control wound healing through phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase-gamma and PTEN . In: Nature . 442, No. 7101, July 2006, pp. 457-60. doi : 10.1038 / nature04925 . PMID 16871217 .