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Electric modulation of immune cells accelerates tissue repair
A research team at Trinity College Dublin has demonstrated that targeted electrical stimulation can change the behavior of human macrophages — immune cells central to both infection control and tissue repair — shifting them toward an anti-inflammatory, pro-repair state. This finding, reported in Cell Reports Physical Science, suggests a bioelectric approach that could complement drug and cell therapies to treat wounds and inflammatory conditions.
A Trinity College Dublin team has discovered that electrical stimulation can reprogram macrophages to suppress inflammation and accelerate healing, opening the door to new therapeutic possibilities. Credit: Stock
Macrophages are versatile white blood cells that remove pathogens and debris, coordinate other immune cells and produce molecules that either promote or resolve inflammation. When macrophage activity becomes excessive or poorly timed, inflammation can persist and cause tissue damage rather than repair. Controlling macrophage phenotype — the functional program a cell adopts — is therefore a high-priority goal in regenerative medicine and immunology.
Experiment design and methodology
The Trinity team isolated human macrophages from healthy donors using blood provided by the Irish Blood Transfusion Board at St James’s Hospital. Cells were cultured in a custom-designed bioreactor that delivered controlled electrical currents while allowing researchers to monitor gene expression, cytokine production and other functional outputs.
Electrical regimes and readouts
Researchers tested defined electrical parameters (amplitude, frequency, duration) to determine conditions that reliably shifted macrophage activity. They measured inflammatory signalling molecules (cytokines), expression of genes associated with angiogenesis (formation of new blood vessels), and the cells’ ability to recruit tissue-resident stem cells — a key component of regenerative response.
Using these readouts, the team identified stimulation regimes that reduced pro-inflammatory markers and elevated transcripts linked to tissue regeneration and blood-vessel growth. The electrically conditioned macrophages also enhanced recruitment of progenitor cells in vitro, consistent with a wound-healing phenotype.
Key findings and therapeutic implications
Electrical stimulation pushed human macrophages toward an anti-inflammatory, pro-repair program. Observed effects included lowered levels of inflammatory signalling molecules, increased expression of angiogenic genes, and enhanced stem cell recruitment — all elements that support faster and more effective tissue regeneration.
Lead investigators highlight several advantages of this strategy: the experiments used human cells, providing direct translational relevance; electrical stimulation is already a component of some clinical devices and can be delivered with high spatial control; and the approach may be adaptable across multiple tissues and inflammatory diseases where macrophage dysfunction contributes to pathology.
Professor Michael Monaghan and Professor Aisling Dunne, who co-led the interdisciplinary team, note that the results provide a proof of principle for bioelectric modulation of immune cells. “Among the future steps are to explore more advanced regimes of electrical stimulation to generate more precise and prolonged effects on inflammatory cells and to explore new materials and modalities of delivering electric fields,” Prof. Monaghan said. The team emphasizes that additional studies are required to define mechanisms, optimize parameters, and evaluate safety and efficacy in vivo.
Related technologies and scientific context
Bioelectric therapies — approaches that use electric fields or currents to influence cell behaviour — are an expanding area in regenerative medicine. Existing devices, such as electrical stimulation for chronic wounds or neuromodulation implants, show that controlled electrical inputs can be clinically feasible. Combining electrical modulation with biomaterials, drug delivery or cell therapy could produce synergistic effects for complex wounds, chronic inflammatory conditions, and tissue engineering applications.
Scientifically, this work builds on growing evidence that cells sense and respond to electric cues via ion channels, membrane potentials and downstream signalling pathways. Mapping the molecular cascade by which electric fields alter macrophage gene expression will be a critical next step to convert in vitro results into safe, reproducible clinical interventions.
Expert Insight
Dr. Marcus Hale, a biomedical engineer who researches immunomodulation and regenerative devices, comments: "This study is an important demonstration that immune cells can be steered with bioelectric signals. Translating this to patients will require careful tuning of waveforms, delivery materials and safety profiling, but the potential to reduce reliance on immunosuppressive drugs is compelling. Devices that locally reprogram macrophages could shorten healing times and improve outcomes for chronic wounds and surgical recovery."
Future directions and research priorities
Next steps include testing refined stimulation protocols for longevity and specificity, identifying the ion channels and signalling networks responsible for phenotype switching, and conducting animal studies to assess tissue-level outcomes and systemic effects. Researchers also plan to investigate advanced electrode materials and non-invasive delivery methods that could enable clinical translation.
The interdisciplinary nature of the project — combining immunology, engineering and materials science — is central to advancing bioelectric therapies from bench to bedside. If further studies confirm safety and robust benefit, electrical reprogramming of macrophages could join the toolkit of regenerative medicine and immune modulation.
Conclusion
Trinity College Dublin researchers have shown that electrical stimulation can reprogram human macrophages toward an anti-inflammatory, pro-repair state in vitro. The findings point to a promising bioelectric strategy to accelerate healing and control inflammation across a range of injuries and diseases. Additional mechanistic work, optimization of stimulation regimes and preclinical testing are required before clinical application, but the results establish a foundation for novel, device-based immune therapies that harness the body’s own repair mechanisms.
Source: scitechdaily
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