Fig. 3.

An applied physiological EF induced cell clustering and chain migration in SH-SY5Y. a An applied EF of 50 mV/mm (lower panels) significantly induced cells to cluster together and to migrate to the cathode. Upper panel – control (no EF); lower panel EF cathode at right. Bars: 20 μm. b Cluster formation of SH-SY5Y cells was quantified by counting the percentage of single cell, or groups with less than 3 cells connected together. The reduction of these groups over 3 h in the EF indicates the continuing onset of cell cluster formation. The EF therefore significantly reduced the proportion of single cells due to more cell clusters having formed (>3 cells connection). c The directedness (Cos θ) of SH-SY5Y cell migration was field strength dependent, showing significant increases from 5 mV/mm to 100 mV/mm. d Western blotting showed that the applied EF effectively increased the expression of N-cadherin and β-catenin at 1 h of EF exposure. The concentration of p-PKC was increased significantly after 8 h treatment by an applied EF. GAPDH is a loading control. (E, F and G) The ratio of protein expression/GAPDH is shown below the western blots for β-Catenin (E), N-cadherin (F) and p-PKC (G)