Unraveling the missing link of bio-electrical stimulation from body-mediated energy transfer

Abstract

As the technologies for treating diseases are attracting continuous attention, physical therapy methods, particularly electrical stimulation (ES), have been widely investigated owing to their high effectiveness. As ES essentially requires an external power source, various efforts are being devoted to achieving the application of ES to the human body using nanogenerators. Various studies have verified the effect of ES by applying the same output generated by the device to in vitro and in vivo bio-electrical stimulation. However, it is unknown whether the electrical output generated by the device can be transmitted equally in the cell unit, and this is considered a common missing link in bio-electrical stimulation research. Herein, the missing link between electrical devices and in vitro bio-electrical stimulations is unraveled by the ex vivo, 2D simulation, and in vitro study of body-mediated energy transfer (BmET) models. In addition, BmET-based ES is applied to pre-osteoblasts, and the increased cellular functions are verified.