A multi-disciplinary work conducted at the University of the Algarve, which has already been published in the journal Science Advances, has developed new electronic components that allow the measurement of the electrical activity of cells of the nervous system that until now had gone unnoticed.
The new technology was tested in the laboratory, with cells derived from brain tumors, and raises new questions about the possible electrical signaling produced by these tumors and their impact on the physiology of the brain.
For this study were used cells derived from brain tumors of the mouse, of the type astroglioma. These cells originate in the astrocytes, which exist in the nervous system and whose normal function is to support the functional, metabolic and structural to the neurons.
unlike neurons, astrocytes are considered as electrically silent. The new electronic components have allowed to measure electrical signals in discrete (smaller than a micro-volt) produced by cell cultures derived from brain tumors.
Until now, the available technology only allowed you to measure signals larger than 10 micro-volts in cell cultures. This new system is also advantageous by the fact that allow the cells to be examined during the entire culture directly on the chips electronics that make the detection of electrical signals.
cancer cells have a metabolic activity very intense, and as a result of this metabolism sour the environment in your neighbourhood effect (Warburg).
The team from the University of the Algarve observed that when the cells are in an acidic environment, generate patterns of electrical signals in a cooperative way. When the sensor cell of this acidification (channels ionic pH-sensitive, or ASIC, of the English acid-sensing ion channels) are blocked, the electrical activity of the tumor cells is eliminated. These observations were only possible due to innovation in the sensitivity of the electronic systems that measure the electrical activity of the cells.
So, if the cells of a brain tumor can also generate electrical activity, these signals can interfere with the normal functioning of the brain and may, eventually, contribute to crises epiléticas, which often are associated with the brain tumors. To be possible, the development of targeted therapies for these changes of electrical activity may be very useful to mitigate the impact of crises epiléticas in cancer patients, with considerable improvement of their quality of life.
This research involved collaborators from the University of Coimbra, professora Carmo Medeiros Department of Electrical Engineering and Computers, as well as researchers from the Max-Planck Institute in Mainz, Germany.
The team at the University of Algarve was led by Inês Araújo, researcher at the Centre for Research in Biomedicine (CBMR) and the Algarve Biomedical Center (ABC), and professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine, and Henrique Gomes, researcher of the Institute of Telecommunications and professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering and Informatics of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology.
The study was funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology, through the project:
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