Headline (Invited Paper)
Toward Interdisciplinary Collaboration between Electrochemistry and Physiology: Status Quo, Challenges, and Prospects
2024 Volume 92 Issue 2 Pages 022002
Details
2024 Volume 92 Issue 2 Pages 022002
Interdisciplinary collaboration among various fields is essential for advancements in science. In medicine, innovative approaches created through the collaboration are required for the analysis of mechanisms underlying complicated biological events as well as the development of therapies for various diseases in a super-aging society. ‘Physiology’ is a fundamental field in medicine—physiologists intend to ask what a ‘living’ organism is and seek to understand the functions and roles of its constituents, organs and cells. The observations obtained in physiological studies contribute to the elucidation of pathological processes and drug discovery. Historically, a variety of biosensors fabricated on the basis of the principles of electrochemistry have been used in physiological experiments. To develop innovative technologies and explore new scientific fields, The Physiological Society of Japan is set to collaborate with The Electrochemical Society of Japan. In this article, I summarize the research direction of physiology and discuss the challenges in and prospects for the interdisciplinary collaboration between the two scientific communities.
A recently emerging concern in the academic field of Japan is the likely decline in research and development capabilities. To combat this issue, the creation and promotion of original research must be prioritized. Similar to the interaction among different compounds during chemical reactions to produce an unexpected product, innovative science requires the fusion of research from different fields. In Japan, we have a number of unique technologies and methodologies in engineering, and the effective application of these approaches to life sciences is a key step toward the development of next-generation medicine.
Briefly, ‘physiology’ is an academic field engaged in characterizing the functions of organs and cells constituting ‘living’ organism and elucidating their underlying mechanisms. In this context, the clarification of the architecture, networks, and logic of the operation of organisms is crucial. The achievements that emerge from this field have directly contributed to the exploration of pathological processes of various diseases and development of drugs and therapies. As the title “Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine” suggests, physiology is the basis for all fields in life science, including medicine.
The Physiological Society of Japan (PSJ) was established in 1922. In March 2023, the annual meeting celebrating the 100-year anniversary was held in Kyoto with the invitation of two Nobel Prize winners, Professors Shinya Yamanaka and Savante Pääbo. Currently, the PSJ is composed of 2,400 members, among which 50 % belong to medicine and 5 % to engineering.
As defined in a textbook, ‘electrochemistry’ is an academic field associated with the study of chemical processes that cause the movement of electrons and ions.1 Cellular electrical excitation, which is induced by the changes in the membrane potential, and enzymatic reactions play pivotal roles in physiological processes of organisms. These two events underlie the exchange of ion and electrons between the target elements.
Electrochemical techniques and methodologies have been used in physiology experiments for many years. For example, in the patch-clamp method,2 which is a representative approach in physiology, the activities of ion channels on plasma membranes are measured using a glass pipette. In this assay, currents induced through the application of different potentials in the cell are recorded. The data are plotted as a function of the membrane potential in a current–voltage (IV) curve, which is similar to the cyclic voltammetry (CV) curve in electrochemistry. The voltage clamp method, in which the current change is measured at a constant potential, corresponds to the chronoamperometry method in electrochemistry. Ion-selective electrodes,3 which are fabricated by packing an ionophore into a glass pipette, and classical carbon electrodes,4 which detect neurotransmitters, are both originated from electrochemical techniques and materials.
Accordingly, electrochemistry, wherein electrochemists intend to identify new principles and materials, is closely correlated with physiology, wherein physiologists aim to reveal and interpret new biological phenomena using various electrochemical sensors. Nevertheless, it seems probable that the two fields have recently been less correlated than they were a few decades ago.
PSJ is set to collaborate with the Electrochemical Society of Japan (ECSJ). To promote the interplay, in the former society I serve as a head of “committee for interdisciplinary collaboration with other academic societies”. Here, I discuss some of the current issues that could be addressed through a collaboration between physiology and electrochemistry. In addition to imaging techniques, the electrochemical and electrophysiological methods play key roles in physiological studies. Currently what is required is to carry out and achieve simultaneously both microscopic analysis in high resolution and macroscopic analysis throughout wide area—these two are contradictory tasks. Another critical issue is the in vivo real-time measurement of multiple biosignals in living samples. The investigation and characterization of local areas, including the interphase between the plasma membrane and bulk extracellular solution, and the extracellular region at cell–cell contact, presents another challenge. The diverse samples used for physiological analysis include living animals, organoids, induced pluripotent stem cells, and organ-on-a-chip systems. Innovative sensors that can withstand these different conditions must be developed. In clinical practice, the development of portable electrochemical sensors that can quickly quantify bioactive substances and drugs in the blood and interstitial fluid of patients are needed. Such point-of-care tools will also contribute to the deployment of daily digital healthcare systems.
As mentioned above, physiology is likely to have a high affinity to electrochemistry; nevertheless, the collaboration of the two fields is challenging. First, the in vivo recording of organs and tissues in living organisms is often disturbed by a number of noises resulting from heartbeats, breathing, and endogenous substances in body fluids. To extract physiologically significant target signals effectively, measurement techniques and protocols must be optimized and data analysis algorithms need to be developed. Second, how are the measured data interpreted from physiological or pathological standpoints? To address this issue, physiologists need to explain the significance of their observations to engineers in detail.
Toward the development of the software for the collaboration, in many cases, it is difficult to align the resources or tools available to electrochemists with the requirements or demands of physiologists. To resolve this problem, ‘platforms’ that can facilitate extensive matching and networking must be constructed. In addition, the effective interdisciplinary cooperation should be engaged in identifying and sharing common terminologies. For example, it is necessary to replace technical words that are specific to one side of the interdisciplinary cooperation with terms that can be understood by researchers on the other side. Another possible complication is as follows. Physiologists usually purchase measurement instruments for their experiment; when physiologists ask engineers to develop or construct instruments, they usually wish to obtain the finished and completed products. This tendency is unappreciated for practical cooperation. During instrument development, it is necessary to frequently discuss the workflow and individual manufacturing processes between biologists and engineers and collate feedback on problems, solutions, and results.
Collectively, it is clear that successful interdisciplinary collaboration requires the promotion of interaction and communication between electrochemists and physiologists; this can be realized through in-depth understanding of research background, projects, and concepts in both fields. This collaboration effort has the potential to accelerate education and foster young researchers. They should establish their own original research area—even if it is small at the outset—in order to lead the future of science. For this purpose, young researchers must engage in interdisciplinary learning and gain diverse experiences across various fields. Thereafter, they can extract and combine elements to conduct original or unexpected research. This process is similar to a ‘chemical reaction’ as mentioned above. Obviously, the collaboration between ECSJ and PSJ is both ideal and necessary for the advancement of science.
In this article, I have described the similarities, correlation, and differences between electrochemistry and physiology and discussed the challenges limiting the interdisciplinary collaboration. Although such collaboration seems difficult, this endeavor can revolutionize the scientific landscape of Japan and other countries. I collaborated with Professor Yasuaki Einaga in the Department of Chemistry at Keio University; he is a leader in electrochemistry associated with boron-doped diamond electrodes. The cooperation resulted in development of a unique, state-of-the-art microsensing system for the in vivo real-time detection of local drug kinetics.5 I hope that The ECSJ and PSJ will maintain a lasting collaboration, generating innovative technologies and imparting knowledge that can significantly advance the life sciences and enhance human well-being.
The author thanks Dr. Hisakage Funabashi, Dr. Osamu Shirai, and Dr. Ryutaro Asano for providing the opportunity to prepare this manuscript. This research was partially supported by AMED-CREST under Grant Number 23gm1510004.
Hiroshi Hibino: Writing – original draft (Lead), Writing – review & editing (Lead)
The authors declare no conflict of interest in the manuscript.
AMED: 23gm1510004
A part of this paper was presented in the 2023 ECSJ Fall Meeting.
H. Hibino: ECSJ Active Member
Hiroshi Hibino (Professor, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University)
Hiroshi Hibino was born in 1970. He graduated from School of Medicine, Osaka University in March 1994, Thereafter he entered Graduate School of Medicine and earned Doctor of Medicine in March 1999, He studied at the Rockefeller University in 1999–2022, in 2010 he promoted to Professor at Niigata University, from 2021 he has served as Professor at Osaka University. His research interests are hearing and electrochemical sensors. Hobby: Visiting temples.
