Mechanical neuroscience: Emil du Bois-Reymond's innovations in theory and practice

Finkelstein, Gabriel

doi:10.3389/fnsys.2015.00133

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In 1849, Emil Du-Bois-Reymond first observed that the human skin was electrically active(22).This was further corroborated by Hermann and Luchsinger who demonstrated a connection between cutaneous electrical activity and sweat glands. Electrical impedance is lowest in the palms with abundant sweat ducts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 81%

Electroceutical Management of Bacterial Biofilms and Surgical Infection

Sen

Mathew-Steiner

Das

et al. 2020

Antioxidants & Redox Signaling

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the host-microbe microenvironment, bioelectrical factors influence microbial, host as well as host-microbe interactions. This article discusses relevant mechanistic underpinnings of this novel paradigm. It also addresses how such knowledge may be leveraged to develop novel electroceutical solutions to manage biofilms in the context of surgical infection.Recent Advances: Systematic review and meta-analysis of several hundred wound studies reported a 78.2% prevalence of biofilms in chronic wounds. Biofilm infection is a major cause of delayed wound healing. In the host-microbe microenvironment, bioelectrical factors influence interactions between microbes and host.Critical Issues: Rapid biological responses are driven by electrical signals generated by ion currents moving across cell membranes. Bacterial life, growth and function relies on a bioelectrical milieu which when perturbed impairs their ability to form biofilm, a major threat to healthcare. Viral stability depends on electrostatic forces. Weak electrical field strength, otherwise safe for humans, can achieve such benefit. In the host, electric field enhanced keratinocyte migration, bolstered immune defenses, improved mitochondrial function and demonstrated multiple other effects consistent with supporting wound healing. Deeper mechanistic understanding of electrical principles will inform the design of next generation electroceuticals.Future Directions: This is an opportune moment in time as there is a surge of interest in electroceuticals in medicine. Projected to reach $35.5 billion by 2025, electroceuticals are becoming a cynosure in the global market. WHO reports that more than 50% of surgical site infections can be antibiotic resistant. Electroceuticals offer a serious alternative.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 81%

Electroceutical Management of Bacterial Biofilms and Surgical Infection

Sen

Mathew-Steiner

Das

et al. 2020

Antioxidants & Redox Signaling

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In parallel with the first morphological descriptions of neural cells, studies on nerve excitability, by Du Bois Reymond among others, pioneered early electrophysiological approaches. These provided the conceptual framework to envision circuit function as a result of electrical signals ( Finkelstein, 2015 ). Since then, traditional electrophysiological stimulations alongside anatomical methodologies remained dominant for a half−century, extensively employed to reveal functional architecture of brain regions ( Hubel and Wiesel, 1962 ; O’Keefe and Nadel, 1979 ).…”

Section: Investigating Nervous System Cells Across Different Eras And...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Open Frontiers in Neural Cell Type Investigations; Lessons From Caenorhabditis elegans and Beyond, Toward a Multimodal Integration

Rapti

2022

Front. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nervous system cells, the building blocks of circuits, have been studied with ever-progressing resolution, yet neural circuits appear still resistant to schemes of reductionist classification. Due to their sheer numbers, complexity and diversity, their systematic study requires concrete classifications that can serve reduced dimensionality, reproducibility, and information integration. Conventional hierarchical schemes transformed through the history of neuroscience by prioritizing criteria of morphology, (electro)physiological activity, molecular content, and circuit function, influenced by prevailing methodologies of the time. Since the molecular biology revolution and the recent advents in transcriptomics, molecular profiling gains ground toward the classification of neurons and glial cell types. Yet, transcriptomics entails technical challenges and more importantly uncovers unforeseen spatiotemporal heterogeneity, in complex and simpler nervous systems. Cells change states dynamically in space and time, in response to stimuli or throughout their developmental trajectory. Mapping cell type and state heterogeneity uncovers uncharted terrains in neurons and especially in glial cell biology, that remains understudied in many aspects. Examining neurons and glial cells from the perspectives of molecular neuroscience, physiology, development and evolution highlights the advantage of multifaceted classification schemes. Among the amalgam of models contributing to neuroscience research, Caenorhabditis elegans combines nervous system anatomy, lineage, connectivity and molecular content, all mapped at single-cell resolution, and can provide valuable insights for the workflow and challenges of the multimodal integration of cell type features. This review reflects on concepts and practices of neuron and glial cells classification and how research, in C. elegans and beyond, guides nervous system experimentation through integrated multidimensional schemes. It highlights underlying principles, emerging themes, and open frontiers in the study of nervous system development, regulatory logic and evolution. It proposes unified platforms to allow integrated annotation of large-scale datasets, gene-function studies, published or unpublished findings and community feedback. Neuroscience is moving fast toward interdisciplinary, high-throughput approaches for combined mapping of the morphology, physiology, connectivity, molecular function, and the integration of information in multifaceted schemes. A closer look in mapped neural circuits and understudied terrains offers insights for the best implementation of these approaches.

show abstract

“…In positing a cosmos of matter in motion, devoid of supernatural influence or divine purpose, the work persuaded du Bois-Reymond to abandon the language of animal spirits and investigate nerves with the instruments of physics. In 1843 he succeeded in detecting the action current, or nerve signal, in living organisms; on 3 August 1846, before witnesses at the Berlin Physical Society, he demonstrated the same signal in his own body, revealing the effect of the will to be an electrical phenomenon (du Bois-Reymond, 1846; Finkelstein, 2015).…”

Section: Lucretian Originsmentioning

confidence: 99%