Abstract
In this article, a new conceptual biomedical engineering strategy to tackle modern disease challenges, called liquid metal (LM) enabled electrobiology, is proposed. This generalized and simple method is based on the physiological fact that specially administrated electricity induces a series of subsequent desired biological effects, either shortly, transitionally, or permanently. Due to high compliance within biological tissues, LM would help mold a pervasive method for treating physiological or psychological diseases. As highly conductive and non-toxic multifunctional flexible materials, such LMs can generate any requested electric treating fields (ETFields), which can adapt to various sites inside the human body. The basic mechanisms of electrobiology in delivering electricity to the target tissues and then inducing expected outputs for disease treatment are interpreted. The methods for realizing soft and conformable electronics based on LM are illustrated. Furthermore, a group of typical disease challenges are observed to illustrate the basic strategies for performing LM electrobiology therapy, which include but are not limited to: tissue electronics, brain disorder, immunotherapy, neural functional recovery, muscle stimulation, skin rejuvenation, cosmetology and dieting, artificial organs, cardiac pacing, cancer therapy, etc. Some practical issues regarding electrobiology for future disease therapy are discussed. Perspectives in this direction for incubating a simple biomedical tool for health care are pointed out.
Highlights
In the cutting-edge field of disease therapy, physiotherapy has received great attention via physical agents such as electricity, magnetism, sound, light, heat, freezing, water, mechanical force, etc
Electrobiology refers to a series of numerous physiological effects caused by electrical stimulation, since the human body is composed of plenty of water and conductive electrolytes
room temperature liquid metal (RTLM) offers the unique qualities of metallicity and fluidity to allow the manufacture of flexible electronics [14,22], which makes it especially suitable for different electric field shapes within soft human tissues
Summary
In the cutting-edge field of disease therapy, physiotherapy has received great attention via physical agents such as electricity, magnetism, sound, light, heat, freezing, water, mechanical force, etc. Electrobiology refers to a series of numerous physiological effects caused by electrical stimulation, since the human body is composed of plenty of water and conductive electrolytes. RTLM offers the unique qualities of metallicity and fluidity to allow the manufacture of flexible electronics [14,22], which makes it especially suitable for different electric field shapes within soft human tissues. Remarkable features of RTLM, such as high electrical conductivity, excellent flexibility, good wettability, and fine biocompatibility, suggest potential for its wide usage in electrobiology for disease therapy [19,20]. We provide an overview of the practical issues of LM-enabled electrobiology, and highlight prospects for further research
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