%0 Generic
%A Mansilla Guardiola, Jesús
%A Benítez-Cruz, Javier
%A Murciano Cespedosa, Antonio
%A Conejero Meca, Francisco José
%A Quarta, Elisa
%A Geuna, Stefano
%A Trasobares Sánchez, Jorge
%A Lombardo-Hernández, Juan
%A Rapetta, Ivana
%A García Esteban, María Teresa
%A Herrera Rincón, Celia
%T Biofilms as Bioelectric Networks. Understanding Their Response to Neural Signals
%D 2025
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/130358
%X Information processing in biological systems presupposes communication, whetherwith other organisms, the environment (learning and stigmergy), or one’s past or futureselves (memory and prediction). How do individual cells (neurons, bacteria) usecommunication to build emergent complex beings like brains and colonial superorganisms? How does information within a whole, such as a vertebrate animal orbiofilm, relate to the information processed by its individual components (cells)? Giventhat both neurons and bacteria utilize bioelectrical signals, could this serve as amechanism for intercellular communication between these two entities?Our previous studies demonstrated that bacteria respond specifically toneurotransmitter cues. We analyzed Escherichia coli, Limosilactobacillus reuteri, andEnterococcus faecalis, key members of the human microbiota, with the latter twospecies capable of transitioning to pathogenic states. Neural-type stimuli alteredbacterial membrane potential (Vmem) without affecting growth or viability, indicatingthat bacteria can depolarize or hyperpolarize in response to external signals. However,whether biofilms—structured bacterial communities with enhanced informationprocessing capabilities—exhibit dynamic responses to neural signals remainsunknown.In this study, we investigated the bioelectrical responses of bacterial biofilms to neuralstimuli. Using the Vmem-sensitive fluorescent dye thioflavin T, which indicateshyperpolarization, we monitored 24-hour-old biofilms over three hours under confocalmicroscopy, comparing untreated biofilms to those exposed to glutamate (Glu). Ourresults reveal that bacterial biofilms exhibit a coordinated bioelectrical response to Gluexposure, distinct from planktonic cultures. Unlike individual bacterial cells, whichrespond independently, biofilms displayed a synchronized shift in Vmem uponexposure to neurotransmitters, suggesting intercellular communication within thebiofilm structure.These findings suggest that biofilms, much like neural networks, utilize dynamic andsynchronized bioelectrical signals to process external stimuli. This opens new avenuesfor understanding bacterial behavior and targeting bioelectric signaling at the interfaceof bacteria and neurons, particularly in systems such as the microbiota-Gut-brain axis.
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