From therapeutic Electrotherapy to Electroceuticals: Formats, Applications and Prospects of Electrostimulation

Abstract

Introduction: Electrical modalities awere used therapeutically since the 18th century till 1900s to reemerge after World War II and to come to prominence after the 80s. Applications include wound healing of injured/molested/burnt tissues, pain management, exercise enhancement, cardiac arrest management, and hearing enhancement. Modus Operanti: Electrostimulation acts by generating currents and voltages similar to innate ones in cell/tissue/organs. Electrosensitive moieties of the cell membrane are excited and signals transduced to regulate gene expression and metabolism, while provoking vectored movement by orienting the cytoskeleton. Therapeutic Applications: The highly diversified applications of electrostimulation created the notion of "electroceuticals". Conductive applications use electrodes to transmitting current; inductive applications use fields to induce currents in the tissues. Different forms and kinds of field and current combine with temporal parameters to create a multitude of modalities, as do the material of the electrodes. Last come the treated ailments. At present the focus is toonwound healing, in burns, sports or other traumatic injuries and ulcers due to underlying disease. Microbiological parameters: Electrostimulation affects microflora both in biotechnological and clinical contexts. Different electrodes and forms of electrostimulation seem to affect differently Gram (-) and Gram (+) bacteria; the effect on biofilms and yeasts is encouraging for treatinghospital infections as is the combination with biochemical compounds. Wireless Microcurrent Stimulation: A new modality, free of conductive approaches' drawbacks (electrochemical instability, risk of infection and electric burns, pain/irritation). It uses charged air molecules to create very low intensity current, of the level of single-digit microAmperes, thus being well-tolerated. Conclusion: Electroceuticals become very sophisticated and diversified and should be viewed in terms of electrodynamics and electrokinetics, so as to be properly integrated in modern therapeutic schemes either as a supplement or as an alternative to biochemical compounds.