Rehabilitation exercise–driven symbiotic electrical stimulation system accelerating bone regeneration

作者：Tianlong Wang, Han Ouyang, Yiping Luo, Jiangtao Xue, Engui Wang, Lei Zhang, Zifei Zhou, Zhiqing Liu, Xifan Li, Shuo Tan, Yixing Chen, Liping Nan, Wentao Cao, Zhou Li, Feng Chen, Longpo Zheng · 发表于：Science Advances · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1126/sciadv.adi6799 · 被引用次数：156 · 研究领域：Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials、Neuroscience and Neural Engineering、Muscle activation and electromyography studies

Electrical stimulation can effectively accelerate bone healing. However, the substantial size and weight of electrical stimulation devices result in reduced patient benefits and compliance. It remains a challenge to establish a flexible and lightweight implantable microelectronic stimulator for bone regeneration. Here, we use self-powered technology to develop an electric pulse stimulator without circuits and batteries, which removes the problems of weight, volume, and necessary rigid packaging. The fully implantable bone defect electrical stimulation (BD-ES) system combines a hybrid tribo/piezoelectric nanogenerator to provide biphasic electric pulses in response to rehabilitation exercise with a conductive bioactive hydrogel. BD-ES can enhance multiple osteogenesis-related biological processes, including calcium ion import and osteogenic differentiation. In a rat model of critical-sized femoral defects, the bone defect was reversed by electrical stimulation therapy with BD-ES and subsequent bone mineralization, and the femur completely healed within 6 weeks. This work is expected to advance the development of symbiotic electrical stimulation therapy devices without batteries and circuits.