This Mineral Is The Initial Trigger

This Mineral Is The Initial Trigger In The Healing Response of Our Immune System


For the first time scientists studying the cellular processes
underlying the body's response to healing have revealed how a flash of
calcium is the very first step in repairing damaged tissue. The
findings, published in Current Biology, could lead to new therapies that speed up the healing process following injury.





Until recently, very little was known about how damaged
tissue activates and attracts the first white blood cells to the wound
-- the first stage in the healing process. However, researchers from
the University of Bristol's School of Biochemistry in collaboration
with a team from the University of Bath, have shown that the very
first trigger in this process is a flash of calcium which spreads like
a wave back from the wound edge through gap junctions that connect
all the cells.

This flash of calcium signal goes on to activate an enzyme
known as DUOX that synthesises hydrogen peroxide, which, in turn,
attracts the first white blood cells to the wound. This white blood
cell invasion, which is initiated during our inflammatory responses,
is needed to kill off invading microbes and stop the onset of
septicaemia following tissue damage.

The findings indicate that the wound-induced calcium flash
represents the earliest identified signal following wounding and might
therefore orchestrate the rapid recruitment of immune cells.

To assess the impact of a reduced calcium flash upon the
inflammatory response the team used Drosophila (fruit fly) embryos
because they are translucent which makes it easy to image the
inflammatory response and because of their simple genetics. The team
found that blocking the calcium flash inhibited H2O2 release at the
wound site leading to a reduction in the number of immune cells
migrating to the wound.

Paul Martin, Professor of Cell Biology and an expert in
wound healing at the University, said: "White blood cells are a little
like 'Jeckyll and Hyde' in that they help us heal but are also the
reason behind why we scar so we really need to know how they are
regulated at wounds in order to learn how to control their behaviours
for future therapeutic intervention."

Will Razzell, the lead PhD researcher on this study, added:
"We are more than ever understanding the pathways that lead to immune
cell attraction to wounds. As calcium represents the immediate
inflammatory signal, we now have a good foundation to investigate this
complicated process further."


Source:-
http://preventdisease.com/news/13/021713_This-Mineral-Is-The-Initial-Trigger-In-The-Healing-Response-of-Our-Immune-System.shtml