As surveyors of the central nervous system (CNS), microglial cells play an integral part in the inflammatory response following traumatic injuries. Thus, they have been implicated in the limited capability of neurons to regenerate in the CNS. Additionally, the roles of endogenous electric fields in the regenerative process of neurons in the mammalian peripheral nervous system (PNS) or amphibian CNS have long been studied. Further, previous studies in our lab have shown that physiological electric fields are capable of directing behaviours in astrocytes and schwann cells. Therefore in this study, a BV-2 microglia cell line was utilized to investigate whether microglial cells are capable of detecting electric fields. After determining whether microglia detected electric fields, the second aim was to investigate whether electric fields triggered microglial activation. This study showed that while BV-2 microglia were capable of detecting electric fields they did not become activated in response to them.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:vcu.edu/oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-4506 |
| Date | 01 January 2014 |
| Creators | Bani, Eman |
| Publisher | VCU Scholars Compass |
| Source Sets | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | © The Author |
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