Modulation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Electrical Stimulation Using an Enzymatic Biofuel Cell

Abstract

Enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) have excellent potential as components in bioelectronic devices, especially as active biointerfaces to regulate stem cell behavior for regenerative medicine applications. However, it remains unclear to what extent EBFC-generated electrical stimulation can regulate the functional behavior of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAD-MSCs) at the morphological and gene expression levels. Herein, we investigated the effect of EBFC-generated electrical stimulation on hAD-MSC cell morphology and gene expression using next-generation RNA sequencing. We tested three different electrical currents, 127 ± 9, 248 ± 15, and 598 ± 75 nA/cm2, in mesenchymal stem cells. We performed transcriptome profiling to analyze the impact of EBFC-derived electrical current on gene expression using next generation sequencing (NGS). We also observed changes in cytoskeleton arrangement and analyzed gene expression that depends on the electrical stimulation. The electrical stimulation of EBFC changes cell morphology through cytoskeleton re-arrangement. In particular, the results of whole transcriptome NGS showed that specific gene clusters were up- or down-regulated depending on the magnitude of applied electrical current of EBFC. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that EBFC-generated electrical stimulation can influence the morphological and gene expression properties of stem cells; such capabilities can be useful for regenerative medicine applications such as bioelectronic devices.

Wound Healing with Electrical Stimulation Technologies: A Review

“…In skin tissue engineering, SCs harvested from bone marrow, adipose tissue, amniotic fluid, and the umbilical cord can be differentiated into the skin cell lineage and incorporated into the skin scaffold to promote wound healing [153]. By the application of TENG, a pulsed ES of 30 µA was generated at 1.5 Hz that successfully rejuvenated aged bone marrow mesenchymal SC (BMSC) with higher proliferation, pluripotency, and differentiation ability [154]. Meanwhile, ES generated by enzymatic biofuel cells was found to be able to change the cell morphology and gene expression of adipose mesenchymal SC (ASC) [155].…”