The method uses electrical stimulation to heal wounds 3 times faster

Electrical stimulation of cells, a natural way to repair skin lesions, has been “adapted” by researchers from the universities of Chalmers in Sweden and Freiburg in Germany. to accelerate the healing process of chronic wounds. Using unidirectional direct current flow, wound repair rate was almost three times higher than in unstimulated cells.

According to research published in the journal Lab-on-ChipAfter any skin injury, “the human body naturally generates an electric field (EF) that acts as a guiding signal for associated cell repair and tissue reorganization”. But this energy flow can be affected by diseases such as diabetes, spinal injuries or poor circulation.

Researchers worked on the hypothesis that wounds could be healed by electrical stimulation of injured skin. The premise here is skin cells are electrostatic, meaning they respond to electric fields and move towards them.. Thus, electrostatic closure with unidirectional PE at one wound edge was compared with alternating polarization of the two edges.

How were the two types of electric fields evaluated?

To test their hypotheses, the study’s authors investigated the effect of electrical stimulation on wound healing patterns of healthy and diabetic people placed in petri dishes. this work in a laboratory setting He worked with keratinocytes, the most common type of cell found in the outer layer of human skin (the epidermis).

Comparison of wound healing on artificial skin a specially designed small chip.

The results show that unidirectional electrical routing signals group was more effective in the healing dynamics of keratinocytes.. Wound closure rate was three times higher for both healthy and diabetic keratinocyte pools compared to unstimulated controls.