November 19, 2009
The growing evidence that cells communicate with photons is generating an exciting new field of research.
Last year, researchers at the Rush University Medical Center in
Chicago showed that human cells in culture could synchronize their
internal chemical processes even though they were mechanically,
chemically and electrically isolated from one another. The cells, it
seemed, were communicating through the exchange of photons.
Various other groups have shown similar effects. Many cells seems
to produce optical and UV photons at about 10 photons per square
cm/s, a rate that cannot be explained by ordinary thermodynamic
emissions. Other evidence indicates that this form of optical
communication can increase the rate of mitosis in cells by up to 50
per cent.
So how do they do it? Today Sergei Mayburov at the Lebedev
Institute of Physics in Moscow puts forward the idea that optical
communication is a natural process in many cells that can be explained
by the way we already know many cells to function.
He points out that biologists have long known that photons play a
central role in the biochemistry of many plant and bacterial cells.
The basic idea, laid out in the 1960s, is that optical or UV photons
enter a cell and stimulate the creation of excitons, electron-hole
pairs, on certain long chain molecules. The exciton travels along the
molecule, influencing the way it reacts with other species within the
cell. This is the basic theory behind photosynthesis.
Mayburov’s idea is that this process is, first, reversible,
second, not limited to photosynthetic cells and third, possible to
modulate for communication.
Let’s unpack those ideas. Take the
first: if photons can create excitons in cells, it seems reasonable
to assume that the process can occur in reverse (exactly this happens
in semiconductors to create light).
The second idea is also
plausible. If excitons form in photosynthetic molecules, why not in
other types of biological molecules too. The problem with Mayburov’s
hypothesis is that it’s not immediately obvious which other
biological molecules may be capable of this and neither does he make
any suggestions.
Finally, is it possible for cells to
modulate the way they generate photons to transmit information and
for others to receive it? It’s certainly conceivable that photon
production could be switched on and off by a change in some internal
state of a cell. Certainly, if we’re to explain the experimental
evidence, something like that must be going on. But Mayburov leaves
us wondering how this might happen on the molecular scale.
This
is a rapidly emerging field which overturns some well entrenched
thinking in biology so it’s hardly surprising that it generates more
questions than answers. For example, how do cells discriminate
between biophotons and background light? And what to make of other
evidence that the photons can sometimes be coherent?
These
are exciting problems. But Mayburov’s broad claim that the phenomena
is closely related to photosynthesis is an important step that should
bring this emerging field to the attention of a much wider audience.
Ref: arxiv.org/abs/0909.2676: Coherent and Noncoherent Photonic Communications in Biological Systems
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