Between Life And Death : Scientists Uncover A Mysterious 'Third State’

Add as a preferred source on Google

Life and death are often seen as opposites, with one neatly concluding the other. But what if there is something in-between that challenges our understanding of existence? Recent scientific discoveries are revealing a mysterious 'third state' where cells can continue to function and adapt even after an organism has died. This groundbreaking finding not only reshapes our views on life and death but also opens the door to exciting possibilities in medicine and biotechnology. Let's find out more.

Photo Credit: Image is AI-generated

The Third State

Now, there's a fascinating twist in medicine where cells can remain active even after their host has passed away. This 'third state' allows cells from dead organisms to keep functioning and even acquire new skills they didn't have while the organism was alive. This groundbreaking discovery is shaking up synthetic biology, suggesting that death might not be as final as we once thought. Researchers are exploring how to repurpose these cells into biological 'robots' with a range of cool capabilities. It turns out the line between life and death is more blurred than we realised.

What The Study Reveals

If more experiments show that cells from dead animals, including humans, can keep working, it might even change how we define legal death. A study led by Professor Peter Noble from the University of Washington and Alex Pozhitkov from the City of Hope National Medical Center talks about this in the journal Physiology.

They explain that life and death are usually seen as opposites. Researchers are exploring how to take cells from both living and dead organisms and turn them into biological robots with new abilities.
For instance, they've created tiny 'robots' from human cells that could help heal wounds and treat diseases, called anthrobots. Meanwhile, scientists at Tufts University have made Xenobots from dead frog cells, which can even self-replicate and carry out simple tasks.

Anthrobots and Xenobots

To break it down, these 'third state' beings are unique because they can take on new functions after death, which means cancer cells don't fit into this category since they don't change either. For example, anthrobots made from human lung cells were able to repair damaged neuron cells in a nearby petri dish and moved around using their hair-like projections, called cilia.

Unlike traditional machines made of steel and plastic that can break down and cause harm, the Xenobots are made from self-renewing, biocompatible materials, which helps them avoid negative effects. These living systems demonstrated behaviours beyond what they were originally meant to do, such as moving around their surroundings using cilia, collecting materials, recording information, self-healing, and even limited replication.

How Cells Can Transform in a 'Third State'

The creation of these biobots highlights this fascinating 'third state' of cell behaviour. Biologists Dr. Peter Noble and Dr. Alex Pozhitkov explained that while we're used to seeing familiar changes in life, like caterpillars turning into butterflies, few organisms change in unexpected ways.

They noted that things like tumours and cell lines, such as HeLa cells, don't count as part of this 'third state' because they don't gain new functions. However, when cells from dead organisms are given nutrients, oxygen, and other signals, they can actually come alive again and form new multicellular life with new abilities.

Recent studies show just how amazing cells can be in reorganising themselves and taking on new roles after life ends.

The Surprising Capabilities of Dead Cells

Experts highlight these examples as proof that cells can develop new functions after death, showing unexpected changes in how they work. However, it's still a mystery how these cells operate in this 'third state.' One idea, which sounds a bit like something from Frankenstein, suggests there might be hidden "electrical circuits" that help bring the cells back to life.

These circuits could create electrical signals that let the cells communicate and do things like grow and move, helping to shape the new organisms they form. Dr. Noble and Dr. Pozhitkov emphasised that these findings show how flexible cellular systems can be, challenging the belief that cells and organisms can only evolve in specific ways.

Even though these 'third state' beings seem to have semi-cheated death, they can only survive for about 60 days before breaking down because they are still natural organisms. It's pretty amazing that they can live for that long after an organism dies, and we don't fully understand the extent of their new functions yet.

The Factors Influencing the 'Third State' of Cells

Whether cells can enter this third state depends on several factors, like environmental conditions such as temperature and energy availability. Access to fuel and the ability to use that energy are key to whether the cells can keep going after death. Other things, like the organism's age, health, sex, and species, also affect whether the cells can enter this unique state. The research team notes that these factors help shape what happens to the cells after death.

To wrap up, the authors propose an interesting hypothesis: they suggest that special channels and pumps in the outer membranes of cells act like intricate electrical circuits. These circuits generate electrical signals that help cells communicate and perform specific functions like growth and movement, which shape the new organisms they create.

This 'third state' highlights how adaptable cells can be and opens up exciting possibilities for innovative treatments. For example, anthrobots could be made from a person's own living tissue to deliver medication without causing an immune response. Each anthrobot starts as a single cell taken from an adult donor's trachea and has cilia that help it move.

Researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NIJT) have figured out how to optimise this movement, leading to various shapes and types of movement, which is a major breakthrough for this biorobotics platform.