Most of the body’s cells communicate with one another by sending electrical signals through nano-thin membrane tubes. A sensational Norwegian discovery may help to explain how cells cooperate to develop tissue in the embryo and how wounds heal.
For nearly 10 years, researchers have known that cells can “grow” ultra-thin tubes named tunnelling nanotubes (TNTs) between one another, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.
These nanotubes, two to three cells long and just 1/500th the thickness of a human hair, are connections that develop between nearly all cell types to form a communication channel different from any previously known mechanisms.
The breakthrough began with an experiment showing intercellular transmission of signals via nanotubes in 2007.
The researchers then carried out similar trials with a number of other cell types, observing similar occurrences. In 2010, Xiang Wang and Hans-Hermann Gerdes, colleagues at the University of Bergen’s Department of Biomedicine, Norway, discovered that electrical signals were being passed through nanotubes from one cell to another at one to two metres
per second.
“We confirmed that this is a common phenomenon between cells,” explains Prof Gerdes, according to a Bergen statement. Intercellular nanotubes are far from permanent. Most of them last only a few minutes.
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Eat chocolate to shed flab, protect heart
Washington: Here’s the perfect excuse to gorge on chocolate without a sense of guilt — eating the right amount and type of the mouth-watering treat can help one shed flab and protect one’s heart, according to researchers.
Dr Lily Stojanovska of Victoria University and Dr John Ashton made the revelations in their new book, The Chocolate Diet: How to eat chocolate and feel great about it.
“We set out to dispel the myths about chocolate and help chocolate lovers realise they don’t need to feel guilty about eating it,” Stojanovska said.
Their book shows that certain properties in chocolate can help with weight loss and protect heart health. —PTI