Electrotaxis
Electrotaxis, also known as galvanotaxis, is the directed motion of biological cells or organisms guided by an electric field or current. A wide variety of biological cells can naturally sense and follow DC electric fields. Such electric fields arise naturally in biological tissues during development and healing.History
In 1889, German physiologist Max Verworn applied a low-level direct current to a mixture of bacterial species and observed that some moved toward the anode and others moved to the cathode. Just two years later, in 1891, Belgian microscopist E. Dineur made the first known report of vertebrate cells migrating directionally in a direct current, a phenomenon which he coined galvanotaxis. Dineur used a zinc-copper cell to apply a constant current to the abdominal cavity of a frog via a pair of platinum electrodes. He found that inflammatory leukocytes aggregated at the negative electrode.
Since these pioneering studies, a variety of different cell types and organisms have been shown to respond to electric fields.Submission of new Biology stub article: Electrotaxis
