Scientists use electric fields to identify aging cells

Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created a new way of informing the “aging” human cells in addition to younger people using electric fields. While key markers were found for these “aging” cells, current methods require biochemical “labels” that are difficult to use and affect the cells themselves, which hinders to examine them. The new method is devoid of label and less harmful. The team aims to diversify the method, expanding it to other types of cells.

The aging begins at the cellular level. As aging, aging or “aging” cells accumulate in our body. These cells have lost not only most of their original function, but still emit relationships that trigger inflammation. There is more and more evidence of how they play a role in conditions associated with aging, such as arterial curing, Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes.

To understand and treat such ailments, scientists must embrace how aging cells affect our physiology. Of course, it starts with identification which of our cells is aging and which are not. Unfortunately, existing methods are based on selective “marking”, e.g. connecting fluorescent molecule to specific compounds, which are known to be present in aging cells. This time consuming and complex is not only time -consuming and complex time, but the process itself can change the properties of what scientists want to study.

To circumvent this problem, the team led by the assistant Professor IPPEI Yagi from Tokyo Metropolitan University has developed a completely different approach to identifying aging cells. Instead of chemical labels, they place cells under an alternating electric field. This causes slight rearranging of the load, in which one end of the cell is more positively charged than the other. When the electric field is not uniform in space, the cell migrates; In the case of an alternating field, the cell goes back and forward between the electrodes. As the frequency of the field changes changes, the cell movement changes significantly at the value known as the frequency of cutting off. The method, known as dielectrophoresis with a modulated frequency (FM-DEP), aims to characterize cell type by measuring this value.

The team focused their efforts on human skin fibroblasts, an important part of connective tissue in the skin. When they tested aging cells against the younger ones, they discovered that there was a clear difference in their cut -off frequencies. These changes result from changes in fat (lipid) particles that form a cell membrane. Importantly, FM-DEP is fast, easy to use and without a label.

The new method is not only a convenient tool for aging research, but can see the use of regenerative medicine and drug screening. The team hopes to use FM-DEP also to other types of cells as a versatile new approach to cell identification.

These works were supported by the JSPS Kakenhi JP23K28453 and JP23KK0260 subsidy numbers.