Understanding the Cellular and Molecular Basis of Electrical Shock

The trauma caused by a person’s exposure to an electric shock is different from an infectious disease, dysfunction of organ, or psychiatric illness. It is simply the outcome of an accident. It is unlike the malady of body function or defect in genetic makeup, which both originate from an internal condition of the patient. It is sudden and unexpected. Nevertheless, the accident may bring about all symptoms of human suffering and these symptoms may progressively worsen shortly after the trauma. As we can see from many articles in this volume, the diagnostic, treatment, care, and management of the electric trauma patients will benefit enormously from our study of how a cell may respond to an electric shock and how an electric field may affect the chemistry of the cellular reactions. During the Shanghai conference, the conferees after several days of intense consultation and exchange of experiences and ideas have reached some general consensus regarding the priority for future electric trauma research. The best course of action for any accident-caused trauma is the prevention of the accident. Prevention may start from the design and development of low voltage, efficient, and well-insulated electrical power sources, appliances, and equipment and the establishment of safety standards and regulations in the workplace. However, once an accident occurs, care of the victim should take precedent. Here, nothing can substitute the best judgment of a well-trained surgeon or physician with the welfare of the victim as top priority. Visual and touch inspection remains the hallmark of the diagnostics, and the doctor’s prescription, surgery, and reconstruction remain the best remedy for the cure and rehabilitation. The highest priority in electric trauma laboratory research is to help physicians understand the complex biological effects of an electrical shock and provide tools to assist in diagnostics and treatments. The various functional imaging and scanning techniques, such as MRI, radionucleotide imaging, bone scan, and others reported in the conference, show their great utility for rapidly and reliably locating the electrically and thermally afflicted areas, tissues, and organs (see various articles elsewhere in this volume). Fluorescence probe and dye staining techniques can even map electric injuries at the cellular and membrane level (see various articles elsewhere in this volume). This information should help a surgeon or a physician to make such a grave decision as the excision and reconstruction of tissues and organs, or amputation of a limb. Further improvement of these techniques and their wider application in the clinical setting promise a quantum jump in the diagnostics and treatments. The basic unit of an organism is the cell, and the molecules of cells perform all of the life-sustaining activities. No progress can be made in any branch of the biomedical sciences without studying the cellular basis of disease or medical condition. Thus, several articles in this volume are devoted to the study of effects of an electric shock on cellular function (see various articles elsewhere in this volume). An intense