Electrotaxis

Electrotaxis, also known as galvanotaxis, is the directed motion of biological cells or organisms guided by an electric field or current. The directed motion of electrotaxis can take many forms, such as; growth, development, active swimming, and passive migration. A wide variety of biological cells can naturally sense and follow DC electric fields. Such electric fields arise naturally in biological tissues during development and healing. These and other observations have led to research into how applied electric fields can impact wound healing An increase in wound healing rate is regularly observed and this is thought to be due to the cell migration and other signaling pathways that are activated by the electric field. Additional research has been conducted into how applied electric fields impact cancer metastasis, morphogenesis, neuron guidance, motility of pathogenic bacteria, biofilm formation, and many other biological phenomena.