See Amoebs London’s Hampton Court Maze | Solve the microscopic version of science

Rats and mice are not the only ones that can solve lab mazes. A new study suggests that single-celled organisms – and individual cancer cells – are just as adept at using chemical signals to find their way through hundreds of complex mazes of their size.

Single cell organisms, such as individual cells, cancer cells, skin cells or bacteria, generally know that by sensing and moving towards attractive chemicals in their environment, there is a process called chemotaxis. This basic type of navigation works best for short distances, usually less than half a millimeter. But when cells go through longer, more complex pathways, they can’t just passively follow a chemical gradation: they need to process the chemicals around them in real time to choose the next path.

To find out how cells do this, the researchers performed two tests known to travel distances – a ground-dwelling amoeba (Dictiostellium discoidium) And mouse pancreatic cancer cells. The researchers eventually created a microscopic maze with a pool of amazing chemicals; They filled the road with similar chemicals so that the cells could make their own chemical traces. The miniature labyrinth had plenty of twists and turns – a perfect proxy for the intricate passage through the mud or to the blood vessel.

Both cell types, successfully maneuvered by Maze, the researchers reported today Science, Making it through various 0.85-millimeter long mazes. The fast-moving Amiabas then made a long haul designed to mimic the famous Hampton Court Palace Hedge Road outside London (see video) because the cancer cells moved so slowly, they would have been destroyed during the long journey.

These chemicals shattered what they were going through, the first wave of amoeba cells distinguishing between the final end of the road – which had a limited amount of attractive chemicals – and the right path ahead. But then the wave of cells was not so lucky. In nature, the leading cells give their signals to their followers to follow. In the experiment, scientists modified cells to make such communication impossible. After the pioneers dismantled the chemicals, clearing them out of the way as needed, leaving the persecutors with uncertainty about where to go now.