Hello, I would like to know which method to use to assess the effect of an electric field on tumor cells in culture. I would need to subject the live cells to variations in the intensity of the electric field and then evaluate some indicators of tumor cell behavior. Thanks in advance!
Dear Prof. María Roqué
Many key molecules orchestrating mitosis are polarizable i.e., they have positive and negative ends that respond to an external electric field. So, alternating electric fields at certain frequencies could have an impact on the intracellular components in a dividing cell in a way that will interfere with division events.
More information may be obtained from the article attached below.
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/electric-fields-disrupt-cancer-cell-division-71101
I have attached a few references that may be helpful for your project.
Article Disruption of Cancer Cell Replication by Alternating Electric Fields
Article Alternating electric fields arrest cell proliferation in ani...
Article Mitotic Spindle Disruption by Alternating Electric Fields Le...
Article Effects of tumor treating fields (TTFields) on glioblastoma ...
Article Tumor treating fields (TTFields) delay DNA damage repair fol...
Article Tumor treating fields inhibit glioblastoma cell migration, i...
https://aacrjournals.org/cancerres/article/78/13_Supplement/4637/629113
Regards,
Malcolm Nobre
I agree with Malcolm Nobre. However, if the voltage gradient is not high it would have very little effect. For example a potential gradient of 50 volts/cm would place a potential of 0.05 volts across a 10 micrometer diameter cell which I would expect to have very minimal effects. When a person is standing outside in the open, on a normal non-stormy day, they typically experience a potential gradient of around 2 volts/cm.
https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_09.html
we are surrounded by a vast community of charges free , static and traveling charges. But the right question I think we should consider is If a large amount of force is acting on the charge in that field and how much effect it has on the culture. Characteristic like Motility, cell division, and shape of the cell can be altere.
check up Galvanotaxis.
I agree with Elijah Japheth that electric fields have an important biological signalling functions, but I don't think that small electrical potentials will effect the growth of cells in culture. The best thing to do is to do the experiment and find out, however be very careful of the material you use for your electrodes or you may be doing a different experiment ( https://www.cancer.gov/research/progress/discovery/cisplatin#:~:text=Cell%20division%20was%20being%20blocked,It%20was%20later%20named%20cisplatin )
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