Bioelectrical swirls

Electrical spiral waves in engineered human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells. On their own, HEK cells are electrically inert. We engineered these cells to express a potassium channel (Kir2.1) and a voltage-gated sodium channel (NaV1.5). Together, these two ion channels made the cells electrically excitable. When grown in confluent layers, the cells coupled to their neighbors via gap junction proteins, so when one cell spiked, it triggered its neighbors to spike. Spiral wave patterns of electrical activity spontaneously emerged in these cultures. The voltage was imaged using a far-red voltage-sensitive dye (BeRST1).

Video courtesy of Harry McNamara and Adam Cohen , Harvard University. Originally published in McNamara et al. (2016).

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