Recreating natural cell communication with synthetic cells
Published: Tuesday, Nov 12th 2024, 09:10
Zurück zu Live Feed
Researchers have recreated natural cell communication with synthetic cells. The publication, published in the journal "Advanced Materials", describes a system that is modeled on the signal transmission in the retina of the eye.
The team involving the University of Basel (Unibas) conducted research into tiny polymer containers, which they loaded with specific molecules in order to open them again in a targeted manner. This mimics cells with cell organelles. The system consists of light-sensitive protocells, the transmitters, on one side and receiver protocells on the other, announced Unibas on Tuesday.
The transmitter cells contain nanocontainers with special light-sensitive molecules in their membranes. With a light impulse, the researchers can initiate communication between the two cells, the report continued. When the light reaches the transmitter cell, the light-sensitive molecules open the nanocontainer, which then release their contents into the interior of the transmitter cell.
Therapies conceivable
The content can then leave the polymer shell through pores and reach the recipient cell, where the content is also absorbed through pores. At the receiver, the contents are converted into a fluorescent signal using an enzyme, wrote Unibas. The researchers can tell whether the signal transmission was successful by the glow.
In the long term, therapeutic applications would also be conceivable on this basis, for example to treat diseases, but also to develop tissue with synthetic cells, according to the press release.
©Keystone/SDA
German 
English 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic