| dc.description.abstract | Wound treatment in the United States costs $25 billion annually (Sen, Gordillo et al. 2009) and one in a hundred people are hospitalized each year for a wound that requires professional medical attention (Drew, Posnett et al. 2007, Srinivasaiah, Dugdall et al. 2007, Hurd and Posnett 2009, Vowden and Vowden 2009, Vowden and Vowden 2009). It is not well understood why immune cells are brought together to the site of a wound. Determining how immune cells are signaled to the site of a wound could reveal therapeutic targets for speeding wound healing. Polyphosphate is present in human wounds along with monocytes, neutrophils, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (Smith, Mutch et al. 2006).
We tested the effects of polyphosphate on the chemotaxis of monocytes, neutrophils, and the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum. To quantify chemotaxis, we filmed the movement of cells in a gradient of polyphosphate, and measured the magnitude and speed of cell movement.
Polyphosphate does not significantly affect either Dictyostelium, neutrophil, or monocyte forward migration index. However, when polyphosphate was added to Dictyostelium and neutrophils a statistically significant effect on their speed was measured. This could warrant further research into questioning why the speed was affected by polyphosphate. | en |
