Search Results (174)

Cutaneous wound healing is governed by dynamically interacting mechanical, redox, and bioelectrical signals that regulate cell migration, inflammation, angiogenesis, extracellular-matrix remodeling, and tissue regeneration. Hydrogels are increasingly engineered to modulate these cues; however, most systems are still described through independently measured properties such as stiffness, antioxidant activity, and conductivity, without demonstrating functional coupling among them. This review examines regenerative hydrogels from a cross-domain perspective, integrating the biological basis of mechanotransduction, redox signaling, endogenous bioelectricity, and their molecular convergence with the network-level mechanisms that control hydrogel behavior. Particular emphasis is placed on dynamic crosslinking, viscoelastic relaxation, hydration, redox-active chemistry, ionic and electronic transport, conductive and piezoelectric phases, and degradation-dependent evolution of material function. A conceptual hierarchy is proposed to distinguish property coexistence, structural integration, directional transduction, and adaptive feedback, together with experimental criteria and quantitative approaches for evaluating coupling. Current evidence indicates that mechanoelectrical coupling is the most mature, whereas mechanoredox and redox–electrical interactions remain less systematically quantified. Moving beyond descriptive multifunctionality toward controllable cross-domain transduction may enable hydrogels to function as adaptive soft interfaces capable of responding to the evolving physicochemical conditions of cutaneous regeneration. Full article

The intrinsic properties of plants offer numerous opportunities for scientific and technological advancement. Considerable efforts have been directed toward developing plant-on-chip platforms to investigate cellular responses to external stimuli, including chemical, mechanical, and electrical cues. In this study, we present a fluidic platform using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and a printed circuit board (PCB), integrated with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) detection. Various experimental conditions were examined, including ionic and pH stimulation, as well as membrane dimensions, with the onion inner membrane treated as a black-box system. The measurement results are presented as Nyquist plots, and a resistance model incorporating multifactorial influences is proposed. Impedance variations in plant cells serve as a basis for electrical modulation. To explore these properties, we converted acoustic signals into electrical inputs and recorded the outputs after being modulated by onion inner epidermal cells. A transfer function analysis was subsequently performed. Our results indicate that the plant cell-on-chip (PCOC) platform holds promise for further investigations into plant cell properties. The impedance results suggest that plant cells can respond to different external stimuli, enabling modulation of the electrical properties. These findings lay the groundwork for future studies on cellular electrical characteristics and the development of preliminary bioelectrical circuits. Full article

Recently, plant-based bioelectronic systems have been explored for environmental sensing applications. However, their intrinsically low electrical conductivity often limits signal sensitivity and measurement reliability. In this work, the electrothermal behavior of living Epipremnum aureum plants incorporating Ag/AgCl nanoparticles supported on nanocellulose was investigated. Electrical and thermal responses were simultaneously measured under controlled environmental conditions using external shunt resistances of 1, 10, 100, and 1000 Ω. Compared with the control without nanoparticle incorporation, the nanoparticle-incorporated plant exhibited stronger electrical responses and distinct electrothermal behavior over the studied temperature range. The measured signals showed nonlinear responses, temporal asymmetry, and resistance-dependent modulation, suggesting changes in charge transport within the plant tissues. Silver-enriched regions and the co-detection of chlorine within the nanoparticle-incorporated plant tissues were identified by environmental scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Five machine-learning regression models were trained to estimate temperature using the measured electrothermal voltage signals as predictors. The best-performing model, MLP FitRNet, achieved a mean absolute error of 0.598 °C, a root mean square error of 0.748 °C, and an $R^2$ value of 0.974. These results demonstrate the potential of nanoparticle-incorporated biohybrid plant systems for electrothermal signal analysis and data-driven temperature estimation, while providing a foundation for future intelligent environmental monitoring applications. Full article

Pectin, a natural biopolymer, is a cost-effective, biocompatible, non-toxic, abundant, and flexible material, making it suitable for recording high-quality bioelectric signals from the dynamic surface of the human body. In this work, pectin-based flexible bioelectrodes were developed for the non-invasive monitoring of biopotentials. The bioelectrodes are composed of pectin, polyaniline emeraldine salt (PANI-ES), glycerol, and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and therefore abbreviated as PPGP. The PPGP electrodes demonstrated a bulk electrical conductivity of (7.54 ± 0.81) × 10⁻³ S/cm, a very low impedance of 34 Ω, and a high charge storage capacity of 4.63 ± 2.70 mC/cm². The surface morphology of the PPGP electrode plays a crucial role in enhancing biopotential signal detection by improving adhesion to skin contours. PPGP electrodes have been successfully used for high-fidelity electromyographic (EMG) bioelectric signal measurements. The developed PPGP bioelectrodes have the potential to advance next-generation human–machine interface (HMI) technologies and wearable healthcare systems, including prosthetic control, rehabilitation monitoring, and assistive communication devices. Full article

Background: Critically ill patients undergo rapid and clinically significant skeletal muscle loss during the first week of ICU admission, driven by a complex interplay of systemic inflammation, neuroendocrine dysregulation, and accelerated protein catabolism. While CRP is an established marker of the inflammatory response, its temporal relationship with early muscle wasting—specifically whether the initial inflammatory peak or its subsequent persistence most strongly determines muscle loss—remains poorly characterised. This study investigated the serial dynamics of inflammatory biomarkers and their correlation with skeletal muscle changes during the first seven ICU days. Methods: This is a post hoc analysis of the NUTRITI prospective observational cohort, conducted at a single academic ICU in Udine, Italy (Ethics Committee approval: CEUR-2019-Os-17). Sixty-six adult critically ill patients with an anticipated ICU stay exceeding 72 h and requiring artificial nutritional support were included; patients on renal replacement therapy or with contraindications to bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) were excluded. Body composition—skeletal muscle mass (MM, kg) and phase angle (PA°)—was assessed by single-frequency BIA (50 kHz) on Day 1 and Day 7. The primary outcome was ΔMM%, the percentage change in muscle mass between admission and Day 7, calculated as ΔMM% = [(MMd − MMa)/MMa] × 100. Daily inflammatory biomarkers—CRP (mg/L), total WBC (×10³/mm³), and lymphocyte count (×10³/mm³)—were collected throughout. Spearman rank correlations between ΔMM% and serial biomarkers were computed for each day. Given the large number of tests (42 total), Bonferroni false discovery rate corrections were applied. Results: The cohort had a median age of 68.5 years (IQR 61–77.8), was predominantly male (71.2%), with median APACHE II 21.5 and SOFA 7. Median muscle mass declined significantly from 34.3 kg (IQR 29.9–39.5) at Day 1 to 30.6 kg (IQR 26.5–34.9) at Day 7 (p < 0.001), corresponding to a median MM% of −8.45% (IQR −14.2% to −1.52%). Phase angle also declined significantly (4.9° to 4.5°; p < 0.01). CRP showed no significant correlation with ΔMM% at Days 1 or 2, but a negative correlation emerged at Day 3 (ρ = −0.297; p = 0.020) and peaked at Day 4 (ρ = −0.355; p = 0.006), attenuating thereafter. CRP at Days 5 and 6 correlated with phase angle changes (p = 0.017 and p = 0.022, respectively). WBC showed no significant correlations at any time point. Day-7 lymphocyte count was nominally correlated with ΔMM% (ρ = −0.314; p = 0.040). Neither APACHE II nor SOFA at admission correlated with ΔMM%. No test survived correction for multiple comparisons. Conclusions: The kinetics of CRP—rather than its initial intensity—seem to be associated with early skeletal muscle catabolism in critically ill patients, with a temporally specific signal emerging at Days 3–4 of ICU admission. Although these findings are exploratory and did not survive multiple testing correction, their biological plausibility—grounded in the known kinetics of ubiquitin-proteasome activation and NF-κB signalling—and their alignment with the emerging concept of inflammation-guided nutritional timing both support their value as a hypothesis-generating observation. Serial CRP monitoring may represent a pragmatic candidate biomarker to identify the optimal window for nutritional escalation, pending prospective validation in adequately powered trials. Full article

Cancer stem cell (CSC) persistence drives recurrence and therapy resistance in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), but what keeps cells locked in this stem-like state is poorly understood. In this narrative review, we propose that CSC state is sustained not by any single pathway but by joint dysregulation of three interacting cell-biological systems: membrane potential (V_mem), communication between neighbouring cells through gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC), and the Hippo–YAP pathway. We argue that these systems act together on one common point—the YAP protein, retained in the nucleus—which switches on a SOX2-centred stemness gene programme and stabilises a self-reinforcing CSC state. Drawing on evidence from cancer genomics, developmental bioelectricity, connexin biology, and OSCC-specific studies, we reconstruct how membrane depolarisation, loss of gap junction coupling, FAT1 mutation, and Hippo pathway inactivation could converge on persistent nuclear YAP, and how betel quid—the principal risk factor across South and Southeast Asia—may engage all three systems at once. Because the model holds that each input reinforces the others, it predicts that targeting several together should displace CSC state more durably than targeting any one alone. We set out the testable predictions this framework generates. Full article

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease characterized by progressive loss of articular cartilage and an associated decline in its intrinsic mechanoelectrical signaling. Current osteoarthritis treatments relieve symptoms but fail to prevent cartilage degeneration or restore its native biophysical microenvironment. Here, we present an ultrasound-activated, mussel-inspired bio-adhesive hydrogel that addresses these challenges by recreating the cartilage’s piezoelectric cues in situ while achieving stable intra-articular retention under synovial conditions. The hydrogel, denoted SFHD-BT@PDA, consists of a silk fibroin (SF) matrix integrated with dopamine-functionalized hyaluronic acid (HADA) and embedded barium titanate nanoparticles coated with polydopamine (BT@PDA). This multi-level design imparts strong interfacial adhesion to wet cartilage (via catechol-mediated bonding to collagen) and piezoelectric sensitivity to external ultrasound. Under ultrasound stimulation, SFHD-BT@PDA generates localized electrical microcurrents that recruit endogenous MSCs via electrotaxis and subsequently promote their chondrogenic differentiation. In vitro, ultrasound-triggered electrical cues upregulated chondrogenic markers (SOX9, collagen II, aggrecan) in MSCs and activated TGF-β signaling, demonstrating restoration of the pro-anabolic bioelectric microenvironment. In a murine DMM model, the adhesive hydrogel exhibited prolonged retention on cartilage surfaces and, with ultrasound, induced robust cartilage regeneration and OA reversal. Treated joints showed preserved proteoglycan and Type II collagen content, inhibited osteophyte formation, and protection of subchondral bone microarchitecture. In summary, this mussel-inspired piezoelectric hydrogel provides an electromechanical stimulation platform that effectively couples physical cues with bio-adhesion to regenerate cartilage. Full article

Nanosecond electric pulses (nsEPs) are an emerging pulsed-power technology with unique bioelectric characteristics distinct from conventional long-pulse electroporation. As a tunable physical modality, nsEPs can modulate intracellular structures, membrane dynamics, and signaling pathways. Increasing evidence supports nsEPs as a promising non-thermal tumor ablation approach due to their high spatial precision, preservation of critical tissue structures, and minimal adverse effects. One of the most significant discoveries associated with nsEP tumor ablation is the induction of potent systemic antitumor immunity, particularly in situ vaccination (ISV) effects and, in some cases, abscopal effects against distant untreated tumors. Substantial evidence demonstrates that nsEPs can function as authentic immunogenic cell death (ICD) inducers by promoting the release of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), including calreticulin (CRT), ATP, and HMGB1. These events facilitate dendritic cell activation, antigen presentation, and the generation of long-term antitumor T-cell immunity. In addition to enhancing tumor immunogenicity, nsEPs profoundly remodel the tumor microenvironment (TME), including disruption of tumor vasculature, reduction in immunosuppressive cell populations, and alteration of stromal components. Emerging studies further suggest that nsEPs act as electric metabolic modulators capable of influencing mitochondrial function, calcium signaling, and metabolism-associated signaling pathways. Current evidence indicates that the immunological outcomes induced by nsEPs are highly dependent on pulse parameters, waveform characteristics, and tumor type. Despite its considerable therapeutic promise, the development of nsEP-induced ISV immunotherapy faces several important challenges, including standardization and optimization of pulse protocols, identification of critical molecular and cellular targets, and clarification of tumor- and cell-type-specific responses. Addressing these challenges through multidisciplinary collaboration and advanced technologies, including multi-omics, spatial analysis, and computational modeling, may accelerate the development of next-generation bioelectric immunotherapies for cancer treatment. Full article

This study presents the development of a proof of concept, functional hydrogel interface designed for the acquisition of physiological signals, such as electrocardiogram (ECG) and electromyography (EMG). The hydrogel is synthesized using chitosan extracted from the shells of Tenebrio molitor larvae through a sustainable acid–alkaline protocol, blended with glycerol, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and ionized with NaCl to enhance conductivity. The resulting hydrogel membranes were cast and cut into circular shapes to provide a uniform contact geometry. The fabrication process yielded flexible membranes exhibiting ionic conductivity and partial surface conformity and handling stability. The extracted chitosan was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), degree of deacetylation (DDA), and molecular weight determination. Mechanical characterization included compression and tensile testing, while electrical characterization was performed through impedance spectroscopy and comparison with a commercial hydrogel interface. Functional evaluation was conducted through ECG and EMG signal acquisition under controlled experimental conditions. Preliminary in situ ECG and EMG recordings demonstrated successful signal acquisition using the proposed hydrogel interface. Future work may further investigate the mechanical and electrical behavior of the hydrogel under broader experimental conditions, as well as the optimization of the hydrogel formulation and extended physiological signal acquisition. Studies may help further characterize its potential as a chitosan-based bio interface material for bioelectrical sensing applications. Full article

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by progressive vascular dysfunction and remains a leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality worldwide. Endothelial dysfunction is an early and critical event in atherogenesis, contributing to inflammation, leukocyte recruitment, plaque progression, and thrombotic complications. Increasing evidence indicates that vascular endothelial cells use bioelectrical signaling mechanisms to integrate mechanical, metabolic, and inflammatory cues and maintain vascular homeostasis. At the core of these regulatory networks are ion channels and transporters, which coordinate membrane potential, ionic fluxes, calcium homeostasis, redox balance, and downstream biochemical signaling to regulate endothelial function in vascular health and disease. Dysregulation of these pathways may promote oxidative stress, inflammation, endothelial senescence, apoptosis, endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and impaired vasodilatory function, thereby contributing to atherosclerotic progression. Understanding how ion channels regulate endothelial function may provide important insights into atherosclerosis and facilitate the development of novel therapeutic strategies aimed at restoring endothelial homeostasis and reducing cardiovascular risk. Full article

Wound healing is a fundamental biological process essential to maintaining structural integrity and survival across both plant and animal life. Despite the profound evolutionary distance separating these kingdoms, wound healing provides one of those momentous occasions when these biological universes collide, revealing significant evolutionary parallels in the core mechanisms of healing, despite clear molecular and physiological differences. However, two challenges have hindered systematic cross-kingdom comparisons. First, unlike animal wound healing, the major phases of plant wound healing have not been organized into a universally accepted classification. Second, no comparative framework exists for systematically comparing wound-healing processes across plant and animal kingdoms. To address these challenges, we developed a comparative classification framework that organizes wound healing into three functional phases: (1) bioelectrical signaling, (2) immune responses, and (3) tissue formation and remodeling. This classification defines the major phases of plant wound healing, while the comparative framework establishes a common basis for systematic cross-kingdom comparison. Through comparative analysis, multiple shared cellular and molecular mechanisms were identified. These findings led to a conceptual model termed the hybrid-wound healing system, integrating plant- and animal-derived regenerative responses and providing a theoretical basis for future bioinspired regenerative strategies. Within this system, living plant stem cells are proposed as central biological components that may potentially act as intelligent pharmaceutical microfactories, releasing bioactive molecules in suitable microenvironments. This approach represents a hypothetical future strategy requiring extensive preclinical validation to strategies based on extracts, conditioned media, extracellular vesicles, or isolated bioactive compounds. Collectively, this descriptive review establishes a conceptual foundation for future investigations in plant biology, wound healing, and regenerative medicine. Full article

Potassium (K⁺) channels have been frequently linked to cancer progression; however, their contribution varies across tumour types and experimental models. This heterogeneity indicates that gene-level characteristics such as expression, co-expression, or mutational status are inadequate for explaining channel involvement in oncogenic signalling. Here, we performed a cross-study comparison of experimentally validated K⁺ channel interactomes, we show that K⁺ channel regulation is highly context-dependent and does not exhibit conserved pan-cancer signatures. By directly comparing proximity-labeling and affinity-purification datasets across different K⁺ channel families, we identify a limited number of recurrent organizational architectures rather than universal signalling modules. KCa3.1 (encoded by KCNN4), Kir2.1 (KCNJ2), and TASK-1 (KCNK3) assemble signalling-permissive interactomes integrating adhesion complexes, junctional scaffolds, vesicular trafficking pathways, and receptor-associated signalling nodes. In contrast, Kv11.1 (encoded by KCNH2) displays an interactome predominantly enriched for proteostasis and endoplasmic reticulum–associated components, indicating a proteostasis-centered organizational profile with comparatively limited signalling integration. Kv1.3 (encoded by KCNA3), instead, consistently associates with mitochondrial and metabolism-linked proteins and functionally connects metabolic state to downstream transcriptional regulators, rather than regulating its own transcription. Higher-order intersection and pathway-specific analyses indicate that functional convergence across the above channels emerges from shared architectural principles rather than extensive molecular overlap. In conclusion, this study identifies interactome architecture as a central organizational level for understanding K⁺ channel function in cancer. The integration of pan-cancer gene-level analyses with systematic comparison of interaction architectures offers a coherent framework for interpreting the functional heterogeneity observed across channels, families, and tumor contexts. This perspective suggests that therapeutic strategies may benefit from targeting channel-centered network architectures rather than isolated channels alone, highlighting ion channels as structural components of broader signalling systems rather than solely bioelectrical regulators. Full article

Postoperative wound complications remain a major cause of morbidity, prolonged hospitalization, increased healthcare costs, and reduced quality of life. While traditional wound dressings functioned primarily as passive barriers against contamination and exudate, advances in wound biology have transformed surgical wound management. Tissue repair is now recognized as a dynamic immunometabolic process involving coordinated interactions among immune cells, stromal populations, extracellular matrix remodeling, mechanotransduction, mitochondrial function, redox balance, microbial ecology, and bioelectrical signaling. Consequently, modern wound dressings are increasingly designed as bioactive systems capable of actively modulating the wound microenvironment. Recent developments in biomaterials science, immunoengineering, nanotechnology, extracellular vesicle biology, bioelectronics, and artificial intelligence have enabled the creation of advanced wound platforms, including stimuli-responsive hydrogels, immunomodulatory biomaterials, nanozyme-based dressings, conductive scaffolds, oxygen-generating matrices, extracellular vesicle-loaded systems, and biosensor-integrated interfaces. Therapeutic strategies are progressively shifting from antimicrobial-focused approaches toward immune-regenerative modulation targeting chronic inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, ferroptosis, cellular senescence, and impaired mechanobiological signaling. This review examines emerging surgical wound dressings from mechanistic, translational, and biomaterial perspectives, highlighting current innovations, translational challenges, and future directions. Collectively, these technologies may enable intelligent therapeutic systems capable of sensing and directing tissue regeneration in real time. Full article

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of mortality worldwide, highlighting the urgent need for more effective therapeutic strategies. Despite substantial advances in conventional biomaterials, their limited ability to support functional integration and dynamically interact with the biological microenvironment continues to hinder therapeutic outcomes. Native cardiovascular tissues rely on tightly regulated bioelectrical signaling to coordinate cellular communication, tissue homeostasis, and functional repair. Consequently, recreating these bioelectrical cues has emerged as a key design principle in cardiovascular tissue engineering. Electroactive biomaterials have gained increasing attention as a promising platform to address this challenge by enabling electrical modulation of cellular behavior and tissue function. In this review, we summarize the intrinsic bioelectrical properties of cardiovascular tissues and discuss the roles of electrical stimulation in regulating disease-relevant cellular responses. We further highlight recent advances in the development of conductive, piezoelectric, and other electroactive biomaterials for cardiovascular tissue engineering applications. Finally, we critically discuss the major challenges and future opportunities in the field, including tissue-specific responses, stimulation parameter optimization, long-term safety, and clinical translation. Collectively, electroactive biomaterials represent a promising and rapidly evolving frontier for the development of dynamic, responsive, and next-generation therapies for cardiovascular diseases. Full article

We report a cross-station replication of endogenous circadian rhythms in plant bioelectric voltage, recorded continuously for 42 days at three independent sensor stations within a public science exhibition (Phänomena, Dietikon, Switzerland; March–April 2026). Three primrose (Primula vulgaris) stations were equipped with custom Biolingo bioelectric sensors (ESP32 + AD8232) and recorded autonomously through approximately 21,000 visitor interactions. We extracted DC-invariant spectral features from 5–10 s voltage windows (n = 78,431 quality-filtered files) and fitted two-stage cosinor models with bootstrap 95% confidence intervals. All three stations show a robust 24 h rhythm in the 1–5 Hz band power (bp_1–5), with peak-to-trough amplitudes between 0.35× and 1.19× of mesor (R²_med 0.72–0.87). Acrophase varies across stations from 05:00 to 11:00 local time. Critically, the rhythm survives an overnight-only restriction (18:00–09:00, no visitors) at all three stations, ruling out visitor presence as the rhythm driver. The most visitor-intensive station (faces of museum visitors triggering an emotion-recognition installation) additionally shows a sharp daytime amplitude collapse coincident with the exhibition opening at 09:00, during the hours of sustained visitor presence. This temporal coincidence is consistent with—though not by itself proof of—the cardiovascular-mechanosensory coupling characterized at single-subject resolution in a companion study. We argue that bp_1–5—the spectral band most directly related to plant action-potential activity—carries an endogenous circadian signal in Primula vulgaris and that this station-level signal co-varies with sustained nearby human presence in a manner consistent with frequency-selective mechanosensory coupling, although the observational design cannot establish this mechanism. From a biomimetic perspective, this suggests that the plant’s evolved bioelectric sensing apparatus might be leveraged as a live ambient biosensor for nearby human activity, complementing the more common biomimetic approach of replicating plant sensing in synthetic devices. Full article