Bioelectric signals help cells build new brain tissues

Washington: Cells that help the brain grow and the spinal cord in frog embryos can communicate via electrical signals, finds a new research. These bioelectrical signals create a means of communication that allows the cells to coordinate their efforts with their neighbours.By modulating those voltage gradients, the researchers were able to stimulate the growth of extra brain tissue, even compensating for brain defects caused by a genetic mutation. Bioelectricity provides a way for cells to communicate over relatively long distances. Changing the gradient in cells outside the brain resulted in neural cell proliferation in the embryo's neural tube as a structure that gives rise to the brain and spinal cord.