Technology
Our cells might talk via sound waves just like us: A new study

Image by Luis Lima89989
Have you ever wondered how our body functions? Isn’t it interesting to explore how our multicellular system interacts with each other to pass those vital signals that facilitates almost every single process in our body? It is still one of the most fascinating topics, which interests researchers across the world.
It has been always thought that biological communications are entirely based on molecule-to-molecule interaction; this could be either by immediate contact of proteins or by diffusion. However, when you think of a cellular environment as viscous as an egg yolk, the diffusion process could be very slow.
A newly researched study by Shamit Shrivastava and Matthias Schneider at Boston University suggests an entirely new mechanism, two-dimensional sound waves that can travel along cellular surfaces; completely challenging the earlier beliefs. Their research results at Schneider lab suggests that biological communication could occur with sound waves, which is long range and energy efficient. If established, the entire concepts of biological communication could change, giving way to solution of some of the complex problems that could not be solved yet with present concepts.
As the debate continues around the possible role of sound waves in biology, many scientists have started backing the research. A paper published by the two researchers in Journal of Royal Society Interface confirms its growing recognition. The research showed for the first time that sound waves propagating in a model for cellular interface have very peculiar nonlinear properties, which is strikingly similar to signals measured in neurons.
Shrivastava and Schneider are now focussing on applying these concepts of nonlinear sound wave into biochemistry and the activity of enzyme embedded in a model interface. Initial studies in the lab have already shown that two-dimensional sound waves can be excited by variety of stimuli such as a sudden pH change or a photochemical reaction that in turn can alter the activity of enzymes embedded in the acoustic path. This further reinforces the possibility of sound waves as a new physical basis for signalling in biology.
In spite of the abstract nature of research, it already has some very real implications, one of them being the possible explanation of how general anaesthesia works. As a thumb rule, it is generally accepted that greater the solubility of anaesthetic compound in oil, the greater is its anaesthetic potency. While many scientists look for molecular mechanisms, this research simply explains anaesthesia as a change in the elastic properties of the membrane, which inhibits efficient propagation of sound waves resulting in the anaesthetic effect.
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