The Effects of Direct Current Stimulation in Adult Tissues

项目摘要/摘要 外敷电流是临床上广泛使用的一种有效治疗方法。 并提高心理技能，包括多任务处理能力和数字认知能力 人类。尽管局部直流电刺激(DC)在实验、临床和公众中广泛使用 背景下，其在各种细胞类型中的作用的分子基础尚不清楚。我们寻求从根本上获得 了解在成人组织中介导DC的作用和信号。因此，我们将重点放在基础 利用基于扁虫的模型系统进行电生理学研究，该系统易于研究 不同的分散控制系统模式及其在系统和细胞水平上对组织的影响。我们计划合并 分子遗传学和电生理学，以确定潜在的细胞反应的指导机制 集散控制系统。浮游生物激活干细胞(SCs)，称为新生细胞，不断更新成年组织，并有能力 他们身体的任何部位在受伤后都会再生。我们的研究团队开发了一种新的策略，基于 体力分散控制系统在整个浮游生物体内的外用。我们提供令人信服的 有证据表明，可以使用与人类相似的DC来控制集体新生细胞 体内行为(即转录、细胞周期、细胞死亡、分化的调节)，并诱导永久 在不使用遗传或药物治疗的情况下，成人组织特性的变化。整合了 生物物理和遗传信息可能会在我们处理SC调控的方式上提供一种范式转变 成人的身体，并通过执行这个项目，我们希望揭示这一过程的机械性见解。一位少校 这些研究的影响将是阐明在复杂的 整个生物体能够实施生物医学方法来诱导选择性组织 替代和控制细胞行为，以预防或治疗疾病。

Project Summary/Abstract The exogenous application of electric currents is an effective method widely used to treat a plethora of clinical conditions and to enhance mental skills including multitasking capability and numerical cognition in healthy humans. Despite the wide use of localized direct current stimulation (DCS) in experimental, clinical and public settings, the molecular bases of its effects in various cell types are unknown. We seek to gain fundamental knowledge about the effects and signals mediating DCS in adult tissues. Therefore, we focus on basic electrophysiology research using a model system based on planarian flatworms, which is amenable to study various DCS modalities and their effects on tissues at systemic and cellular levels. We plan to merge molecular genetics and electrophysiology to define instructive mechanisms underlying cellular responses to DCS. Planarians activate stem cells (SCs) called neoblasts to continually renew adult tissues and are capable of regenerating any part of their body upon injury. Our research team developed a novel strategy based on the external application of DCS of physiological strength to the whole planarian body. We provide compelling evidence that it is possible to use DCS similar to the one used in humans to control collective neoblast behavior in vivo (i.e. regulation of transcription, cell cycle, cell death, differentiation), and induce permanent changes in adult tissue identity without using genetic or pharmacological treatments. The integration of biophysical and genetic information may provide a paradigm shift in the way we approach SC regulation in the adult body and by executing this project we expect to uncover mechanistic insights about this process. A major impact of these studies will be the elucidation of basic mechanisms mediating DCS effects in the complexity of the whole organism to enable the implementation of biomedical approaches to induce selective tissue replacements and control cellular behavior to prevent or treat disease.