Shocking Experiments!!!!

Professor Kenneth Catania is indeed a brave man. He let himself be stung by an electric eel ten times.  During this experiment  his arm remained  coupled with a  measuring device  so that  the intensity of the shock could be measured. In science one data point is inclusive and hence  10 times!.  After all repeatability and reproducibility are the hallmarks of Science.  All 'In the Name of Science' Washington Post commented. The research paper(see ref.2) appeared in the Sept. 25th(2017) issue of  Current Biology. Catania had selected a smal, juvenile  electric eel for the experiment, and  the mild shock of  about 40-50mAmp, generated acute short term pain, but no long-lasting injuries. An eel can deliver two types of shocks, low voltage when they are linear  and high voltage when they curl up. 

Electric Eel  Courtesy wikipedia

Major part of the eel's body, almost 80% is a powerhouse.  Electrocytes, the electricity producing cells are compacted in parallel stacks inside the electric organ. Neurotransmitter acetylcholine is the messenger  that signals the cells to  align and get activated. As Na+  K+ ion channels open and close in a synchronous fashion a voltage across the anterior and posterior membranes of the cell is developed.  Each cell contributes a tiny amount of electricity but when linked in series the output  adds up.  In an airborne attack, that is when the eel leaps out of water  the blow could be stunning.  

Voltage development across a cell membrane
courtesy: wikipedia

As described in Ref 4

The electric eel inspired Schroeder and colleagues too, but in a rather different way. They viewed the eel as the apt  model for designing and developing a biocompatible  " soft power source".  In many  medical applications the need for a soft pliable energy device  has long been felt.  Schroeder and his team set out to bridge that gap.  They selected  hydrogels as the basic material to design the electrocytes. Hydrogels are materials with 90% water and 10% biological or synthetic polymer. Their design is shown in the picture-   a cation selective gel, separated from an  anion selective gel with an intervening low salt gel and the whole assembly sandwiched between two high salt content  gels. In resting state gels are separated with no current flowing, but when they are brought into contact, ionic gradients result in voltage development.    This is just the beginning; Schroeder's team is hopeful that next generation devices  will  " open the door to metabolically sustained electrical energy powering implants, wearables and other mobile devices". 

References:

1 Biologists reaches into electric eel tank, comes out with equation to measure shocks 
2. Power transfer to a Human  during an Electric Eel's Shocking Leap
3. Watch an electric eel zap a biologist in the name of Science 
4. An electric eel inspired soft power source from stacked hydrogels.