Guiding Cell Migration with Electric Fields: Mechanisms and Applications of Galvanotaxis

Abstract

Electric field-guided cell migration, known as galvanotaxis or electrotaxis, has garnered great interest as an engineering manipulation but has not been widely considered physiologically relevant. Here we provide experimental evidence proving galvanotaxis is a fundamental biological process, like chemotaxis, and show that the application of electric fields provides a powerful engineering approach. We will review our understanding of (1) endogenous electric fields naturally found in biological systems; (2) galvanotaxis of different cell types; and (3) sensing and signaling mechanisms of galvanotaxis. We reason that the bioelectrical mechanism is likely to be part of the environmental cues that cells and tissues integrate to make motility decisions.