Brian Reid

Ion-selective self-referencing probes for measuring specific ion flux

Published in Communicative & Integrative Biology

Measurement of Bioelectric Current with a Vibrating Probe

Published in Journal of Visualized Experiments

The Electrical Response to Injury: Molecular Mechanisms and Wound Healing.

Published in Advances in Wound Care

Significance: Natural, endogenous electric fields (EFs) and currents arise spontaneously after wounding of many tissues, especially epithelia, and are necessary for normal healing. This wound electrical activity is a long-lasting and regulated response. Enhancing or inhibiting this electrical activity increases or decreases wound healing, respectiv...

Specific ion fluxes generate cornea wound electric currents.

Published in Communicative & Integrative Biology

The corneal epithelium generates a significant trans-epithelial potential (TEP) which aids in maintaining cornea water balance and transparency. Injury to the cornea causes a short circuit of the TEP at the wound. The TEP in the intact epithelium around the wound acts like a battery, powering significant ion flux and electric current at the wound. ...

Electric fields guide migration of epidermal stem cells and promote skin wound healing.

Published in Wound Repair and Regeneration

Migration of epidermal stem cells (EpSCs) into wounds may play an important role in wound healing. Endogenous electric fields (EFs) arise naturally at wounds. Consistent with previous reports, we measured outward electric currents at rat skin wounds using vibrating probes. Topical use of prostaglandin E2 significantly promoted wound healing. Howeve...

Ionic components of electric current at rat corneal wounds.

Downregulation of PTEN at corneal wound sites accelerates wound healing through increased cell migration.

Published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science

Modulating endogenous electric currents in human corneal wounds—a novel approach of bioelectric stimulation without elec...

Published in Cataract and Cornea Journal of the Egyptian Society of Cataract and Corneal Diseases

Beta-adrenergic receptor agonists delay while antagonists accelerate epithelial wound healing: evidence of an endogenous...

Published in Journal of Cellular Physiology

Wound healing is a complex and well-orchestrated biological process. Corneal epithelial cells (CECs) must respond quickly to trauma to rapidly restore barrier function and protect the eye from noxious agents. They express a high level of beta2-adrenergic receptors but their function is unknown. Here, we report the novel finding that they form part ...

Endogenous electric currents might guide rostral migration of neuroblasts.

Published in EMBO Reports

Mechanisms that guide directional migration of neuroblasts from the subventricular zone (SVZ) are not well understood. We report here that endogenous electric currents serve as a guidance cue for neuroblast migration. We identify the existence of naturally occurring electric currents (1.5±0.6 μA/cm(2), average field strength of ∼3 mV/mm) along the ...

Airway epithelial wounds in rhesus monkey generate ionic currents that guide cell migration to promote healing.

Published in Journal of Applied Physiology

Damage to the respiratory epithelium is one of the most critical steps to many life-threatening diseases, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The mechanisms underlying repair of the damaged epithelium have not yet been fully elucidated. Here we provide experimental evidence suggesting a novel mecha...

Single cell wound generates electric current circuit and cell membrane potential variations that requires calcium influx...

Published in Integrative Biology

Breaching of the cell membrane is one of the earliest and most common causes of cell injury, tissue damage, and disease. If the compromise in cell membrane is not repaired quickly, irreversible cell damage, cell death and defective organ functions will result. It is therefore fundamentally important to efficiently repair damage to the cell membrane...

Diabetic cornea wounds produce significantly weaker electric signals that may contribute to impaired healing.

Published in Scientific Reports

Wounds naturally produce electric signals which serve as powerful cues that stimulate and guide cell migration during wound healing. In diabetic patients, impaired wound healing is one of the most challenging complications in diabetes management. A fundamental gap in knowledge is whether diabetic wounds have abnormal electric signaling. Here we use...

Effects of physiological electric fields on migration of human dermal fibroblasts.

Published in Journal of Investigative Dermatology

Endogenous electric currents generated instantly at skin wounds direct migration of epithelial cells and are likely to be important in wound healing. Migration of fibroblasts is critical in wound healing. It remains unclear how wound electric fields guide migration of dermal fibroblasts. We report here that mouse skin wounds generated endogenous el...

Measurement of extracellular ion fluxes using the ion-selective self-referencing microelectrode technique.

Published in Journal of Visualized Experiments

Cells from animals, plants and single cells are enclosed by a barrier called the cell membrane that separates the cytoplasm from the outside. Cell layers such as epithelia also form a barrier that separates the inside from the outside or different compartments of multicellular organisms. A key feature of these barriers is the differential distribut...

The role of electrical signals in murine corneal wound re-epithelialization.

Published in Journal of Cellular Physiology

Ion flow from intact tissue into epithelial wound sites results in lateral electric currents that may represent a major driver of wound healing cell migration. Use of applied electric fields (EF) to promote wound healing is the basis of Medicare-approved electric stimulation therapy. This study investigated the roles for EFs in wound re-epitheliali...

Electrical signaling in control of ocular cell behaviors.

Published in Progress in Retinal and Eye Research

Epithelia of the cornea, lens and retina contain a vast array of ion channels and pumps. Together they produce a polarized flow of ions in and out of cells, as well as across the epithelia. These naturally occurring ion fluxes are essential to the hydration and metabolism of the ocular tissues, especially for the avascular cornea and lens. The dire...

Directing migration of endothelial progenitor cells with applied DC electric fields.

Published in Stem Cell Research

Naturally-occurring, endogenous electric fields (EFs) have been detected at skin wounds, damaged tissue sites and vasculature. Applied EFs guide migration of many types of cells, including endothelial cells to migrate directionally. Homing of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) to an injury site is important for repair of vasculature and also for a...

Ion-selective self-referencing probes for measuring specific ion flux.

Published in Communicative & Integrative Biology

The metal vibrating probe developed in the 1970s to measure electric current is sensitive down to the micro-Amp range, but detects only net current due to flow of multiple ions and is too large to measure from single cells. Electrophysiological techniques which use glass microelectrodes such as voltage clamping can be used on single cells but are a...

Electric currents in Xenopus tadpole tail regeneration.

Published in Developmental Biology

Xenopus laevis tadpoles can regenerate tail, including spinal cord, after partial amputation, but lose this ability during a specific period around stage 45. They regain this ability after stage 45. What happens during this "refractory period" might hold the key to spinal cord regeneration. We hypothesize that electric currents at amputated stumps ...