Thursday, November 21, 2024
8.8 C
New York

Researchers Discover New Role of Immune Cells

Immune system cells, otherwise known as macrophages, are designed to fight off any invading pathogens in order to protect the body. However, a new study suggests that these cells help electricity flow between muscle cells to keep the heart beating as it should. While the heart’s muscle cells contract in response to electrical signals macrophages stays squeezed in between helping the heart receive signals and stick to the right rhythm.


IT’S ELECTRIFYING Macrophages (green) “plug in” to heart cells (light purple and pink), providing an electrical boost that helps the heart cells contract and pump blood, a study in mice finds.

Up until now, researchers knew very little about the particular function of macrophages, and it was by accident that cell biologist Matthias Nahrendorf stumbled upon this find.  Intrigued at how macrophages impact the heart he set out to perform an MRI scan on a mouse that had been genetically engineered not to have the immune cells.  The problem was however that the mouse’s heartbeat was too slow and irregular to get a sufficient scan. The symptoms the mice had to suggest there were problems with their atrioventricular node.


On the flip side, researchers discovered that in healthy mice, concentrated amounts of macrophages were found in the AV node. But, scientists were still no further forward in isolating a heart macrophage and testing it for electrical activity.  When the researchers paired a macrophage with a cardiomyocyte, the two began to communicate through electric signals.  When cardiomyocytes are in the resting state, there are fewer positive ions inside the cell than outside, but as soon as an electrical signal is received that distribution flips causing the cell to contract and transmit the signal on to the next cardiomyocytes.

Previously scientists were under the impression that cardiomyocytes were capable of this shift on their own, but have since discovered that macrophages do in fact play a vital role in that process. Through the use of protein, the macrophage links up with a cardiomyocyte allowing a transfer of its positive charges to give the cardiomyocytes a boost.  Nahrendorf commented, “With the help of the macrophages, the conduction system becomes more reliable, and it is able to conduct faster.”  Moving forward Nahrendorf and colleagues now need to find out if the role of these immune cells is the same in humans and whether or not they could be responsible for certain heart conditions such as arrhythmia.



More News to Read

Hot this week

Brooklyn Defendants Charged in Rideshare Hacking Scheme: Jailbroken Phones Used to Exploit Uber

Brooklyn federal court has charged two defendants, Eliahou Paldiel...

Detecting Defects in Next-Generation Computer Chips: The Future of TMD-Based Semiconductors

As technology advances, the demand for smaller, more powerful...

Merging Galaxies in the Early Universe: The Birth of a Monster Galaxy

Astronomers have recently observed a fascinating event in the...

Topics

Brooklyn Defendants Charged in Rideshare Hacking Scheme: Jailbroken Phones Used to Exploit Uber

Brooklyn federal court has charged two defendants, Eliahou Paldiel...

Detecting Defects in Next-Generation Computer Chips: The Future of TMD-Based Semiconductors

As technology advances, the demand for smaller, more powerful...

Merging Galaxies in the Early Universe: The Birth of a Monster Galaxy

Astronomers have recently observed a fascinating event in the...

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope to Uncover Galactic Fossils and Dark Matter Mysteries

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope is set to transform our...

Black Myth: Wukong – A Game that Gamers Love Despite Media Backlash

In a gaming industry increasingly influenced by social agendas,...

Gravitational Waves Reveal a ‘Supercool’ Secret About the Big Bang

In 2023, physicists made a groundbreaking discovery that could...

Related Articles

Popular Categories

Send this to a friend