Natural AC Electric Fields in and About Cells

Abstract

Living cells are the source of natural ac electrical oscillations, as is shown by several experimental approaches. These include dielectrophoresis, cellular spin resonance, and direct detection. This paper reviews and compares these recent results. The cause and consequences of these natural resonances require clarification.

The natural cellular resonances have been detected in a wide spectrum of cell types, ranging from the primitive bacteria to mammalian cells. They are therefore probably “universal”. In one species where they can be readily compared during various phases of the cell life cycle, as in the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the electrical oscillations appear to be a maximum at or near mitosis. This brings up questions as to why, how, and when such oscillations would arise.

To the question, “Do these natural oscillations reflect cellular operations which are necessary or are they a frill?”; one is led to assume that they reflect needed processes, for they have presisted through the long evolutionary path. If, for example, they reflect events necessary in the cell’s reproductive sequence, this implies that there may be an electrical aspect to cellular growth and its control. How this might be related to the phenomnon of “contact” or “density” inhibition of cell growth is discussed. Several mechanisms whereby such natural ac oscillations may arise in cells are suggested and discussed.