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. 2024 Sep 11;25(18):9808.
doi: 10.3390/ijms25189808.

Differential Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Electrostimulation in a Standardized Setting

Biagio Di Pietro  1 , Simona Villata  2   3 , Simeone Dal Monego  4 , Margherita Degasperi  4 , Veronica Ghini  5 , Tiziana Guarnieri  1   6 , Anna Plaksienko  1   7 , Yuanhua Liu  1   8 , Valentina Pecchioli  9 , Luigi Manni  10 , Leonardo Tenori  5   9 , Danilo Licastro  4 , Claudia Angelini  1 , Lucia Napione  2   3 , Francesca Frascella  2   3 , Christine Nardini  1
Affiliations

Differential Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Electrostimulation in a Standardized Setting

Biagio Di Pietro et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

The therapeutic usage of physical stimuli is framed in a highly heterogeneous research area, with variable levels of maturity and of translatability into clinical application. In particular, electrostimulation is deeply studied for its application on the autonomous nervous system, but less is known about the anti- inflammatory effects of such stimuli beyond the inflammatory reflex. Further, reproducibility and meta-analyses are extremely challenging, owing to the limited rationale on dosage and experimental standardization. It is specifically to address the fundamental question on the anti-inflammatory effects of electricity on biological systems, that we propose a series of controlled experiments on the effects of direct and alternate current delivered on a standardized 3D bioconstruct constituted by fibroblasts and keratinocytes in a collagen matrix, in the presence or absence of TNF-α as conventional inflammation inducer. This selected but systematic exploration, with transcriptomics backed by metabolomics at specific time points allows to obtain the first systemic overview of the biological functions at stake, highlighting the differential anti-inflammatory potential of such approaches, with promising results for 5 V direct current stimuli, correlating with the wound healing process. With our results, we wish to set the base for a rigorous systematic approach to the problem, fundamental towards future elucidations of the detailed mechanisms at stake, highlighting both the healing and damaging potential of such approaches.

Keywords: 3D bioconstruct; electrostimulation; fibroblasts; inflammation; keratinocytes; omics; wound healing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Enrichment Analysis for the impact of time on physiological samples and inflamed samples.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Enrichment Analysis for the impact of stimulus on physiological samples.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Enrichment Analysis for the impact of stimulus on inflamed samples.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Enrichment Analysis for the impact of states on stimuli.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Enrichment Analysis for the impact of stimuli on PHYS.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Enrichment Analysis for the impact of stimuli on INFL.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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