Directed cell movement in pulsed electric fields.

Human granulocytes exposed to pulsed electric guiding fields were investigated. The trajectories were determined from digitized pictures (phase contrast). The basic results are: (i) No directed response was induced by pulsed electric guiding fields having a zero averaged field. (ii) A directed response was induced by pulsed electric guiding fields having a non-zero averaged field. (iii) The directed response was enhanced for pulse sequences having a repetition time of 8 s. (iv) The lag-time between signal recognition and cellular response was 8-10 s. The results are discussed in the framework of a self-ignition model.