Pulsed electrical fields may improve skin rejuvenation

Skin diseases associated with poor blood supply, reduced and loss of collagen functional properties. Current skin rejuvenation therapies focused on removal of nonfunctional tissue. Use various physical and chemical methods to rejuvenate skin. Epidermal atrophy characterized by a thinning of the epidermis. An increase in damage is observed in 32% of individuals over 60 years of age. It is not surprising that 2,156,075 skin rejuvenation procedures were performed in 2013 in the United States.

A new approach to skin rejuvenation developed at Massachusetts General Hospital. Less likely to have unintended side effects such as scarring and altered pigmentation. MGH research team reports that treatment with pulsed electric fields without implementation of instruments in the body.

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Furthermore, procedure that does not involve the generation of heat removed skin cells in an animal model. Without affecting the supporting extracellular matrix. Eventually leading to renewal of the skin surface. The major disadvantage of current physical rejuvenation methods is that they deliver external energy to the whole tissue bulk, affecting both cells and extracellular matrix. This changes the function and architecture of treated tissue.

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The non-thermal pulsed electric field or PEF treatment can reset skin metabolism, leading to skin rejuvenation. "The main difference between this approach and procedures like ultrasound and lasers is that they operate on the whole tissue.While PEF works on only a cellular level, which we expect will provide more precise treatment results in the future." says lead author Alexander Golberg, PhD, of the MGH Center for Engineering in Medicine.

Moreover, Some other types of lasers can have undesired effects including scarring and discoloration. Long used in food preservation for its ability to kill bacteria. PEF causes the formation of tiny pores in the outer membranes of cells. Within tissues, the kind of cell death induced by PEF causes nearby cells to proliferate and release factors promoting the growth and repair of tissues. Previous study led Golberg showed in an animal model that PEF-treated skin would regenerate without scarring.

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The PEF treatment of normal skin induced a number of responses including the death and subsequent proliferation of skin cells, a temporary increase in the synthesis and density of collagen fibers in the extracellular matrix, increased microcirculation of the treated area, and an overall increase in skin metabolism.

However, within period of up to two months after treatment, PEF-induced changes in skin thickness, blood supply, and collagen density had returned to the pre-treatment characteristics of healthy young skin.