BioelectricaAlterspan Labs
RBB
Person

Richard B. Borgens

Richard B. Borgens studied the electric currents and fields of injured and developing vertebrate tissue. Later reviews cite the work on currents from amputated newt limbs1, on the link between those currents and regeneration2, and on fields in the salamander neural plate34. One review groups Borgens with a classic body of work on this topic8.

In the library
1 work, named in 12 passages elsewhere
Facts from
Open Library
18501875190019251950197520002025Tyler SEB, 20171Tyler SEB, 20172McMillen P, Oudin MJ, Levin M, Payne SL, 20213O'Hara-Wright M, Mobini S…, 20224O'Hara-Wright M, Mobini S…, 20225Pietak A, Levin M, 20166Funk RH, 20157Durant F, Lobo D, Hammelman J, Levin M, 20168
01

Currents from amputated limbs

Tyler cites Borgens and colleagues (1977) for the wound current of amputated newt limbs. It ran at 10 to 100 μA/cm2 in the remaining epidermis, higher than the 1 to 10 μA/cm2 given for injured human skin1. Tyler also cites Borgens and colleagues (1979) for the suggestion that regenerating and non-regenerating systems differ in their bioelectric characteristics2. Pietak and Levin place this wound-related field, and Borgens's work on limb development, among the cues that guide migrating cells in injury response6.

02

Fields during neurulation

With Shi, Borgens is credited with measuring medio-lateral trans-epithelial potential gradients around the closing neural folds of salamanders3. O'Hara-Wright and colleagues describe an endogenous field of about 10 mV/mm in the axolotl embryo, polarising it along the rostral/caudal axis4. They also cite Metcalf and Borgens (1994): shifting that field by 5 to 25 mV/mm produced developmental abnormalities5. McMillen and colleagues note that no function has been directly attributed to these fields3.

03

Place in later reviews

Later authors treat Borgens as part of the established literature. Durant and colleagues list a 1989 Borgens work among the classic studies later extended by molecular methods8. Funk points readers to Borgens and the McCaig group for studies of how cells are guided by electric fields7. Pietak and Levin cite Borgens for the link between wound fields and limb development6.

SourcesEach quotation was checked word for word against the passage it opens.
  1. Amputation of digits or limbs leads to an even greater wound current flow of between 10 and 100 μA/cm2 in the region of remaining epidermis in amputated newt limbs (Borgens et al., 1977a).Tyler SEB, 2017 · Nature's Electric Potential: A Systematic Review of the Role of Bioelectricity… · open at passage 19
  2. leading to the suggestion that the differences between regenerating and non-regenerating systems depends upon their bioelectric characteristics (Borgens et al., 1979b; Levin, 2003)Tyler SEB, 2017 · Nature's Electric Potential: A Systematic Review of the Role of Bioelectricity… · open at passage 19
  3. During neurulation in salamanders, medio-lateral trans-epithelial potential gradients have been measured around the closing neural folds (Shi and Borgens, 1995).McMillen P, Oudin MJ, Levin M, Payne SL, 2021 · Beyond Neurons: Long Distance Communication in Development and Cancer · open at passage 9
  4. In the axolotl embryo, an endogenous EF of 10 mV/mm is generated from under the neural plate, polarising the embryo along the rostral/caudal axis during neurulationO'Hara-Wright M, Mobini S, Gonzalez-Cordero A, 2022 · Bioelectric Potential in Next-Generation Organoids: Electrical Stimulation to… · open at passage 20
  5. Modification of endogenous EFs during neurulation by as little as 5–25 mV/mm, through application of artificial voltage, results in developmental abnormalities (Metcalf and Borgens, 1994).O'Hara-Wright M, Mobini S, Gonzalez-Cordero A, 2022 · Bioelectric Potential in Next-Generation Organoids: Electrical Stimulation to… · open at passage 20
  6. disruptions to this process induce electric fields that serve as guidance cues for many migratory cell types during injury response (McCaig, 1990; Zhao, 2009; Yamashita, 2013) and limb development (Borgens, 1984; Borgens et al., 1987).Pietak A, Levin M, 2016 · Exploring Instructive Physiological Signaling with the Bioelectric Tissue… · open at passage 8
  7. Excellent studies and review articles of Borgens and the McCaig group describe thisFunk RH, 2015 · Endogenous electric fields as guiding cue for cell migration · open at passage 20
  8. A now classic body of work in this field (Jaffe 1981; Nuccitelli et al. 1986; Borgens et al. 1989; Pullar 2011)Durant F, Lobo D, Hammelman J, Levin M, 2016 · Physiological controls of large-scale patterning in planarian regeneration: a… · open at passage 14
In the library1 work
Electric Fields in Vertebrate RepairBorgens, R. B. et al.
1989
Electric Fields in Vertebrate Repair
Borgens, R. B. et al.
1989 · described