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The body and all its organs, cells and molecules are electrochemical in nature. Although the chemical side is well covered by the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries, the electrical side is typically used for diagnosis and not treatment. Bioelectric signals are typically measured on the surface of the skin as ECG, EEG, EOG and GSR.
In the case of GSR, the signals are used to obtain information about the underlying skin. Such biophysical signals can also occur within the cell membrane of all cells, between separated cells (explaining non-chemical cell-to-cell communication) or within biomolecules like collagen which is critical for many properties of the skin (Schwan, 1994). Bioelectrical signals are generated from biomolecules themselves and from moving charged ions (like calcium and sodium) which generate current which in turn generates electrical and electromagnetic (EM) fields. Fluctuations in these ions or the currents they generate supplies the body with vibrational frequency information (Ulner, 2003) which cells use to regulate fundamental physiological processes like growth, differentiation (maturation) and cell-to-cell communication (Cleary, 1993). These intrinsic vibrational frequencies have been used to modulate external EM fields and current flows. Because of their clinical use in wound repair, it was shown that these EM fields have very specific and profound effects on skin function, skin cells (fibroblasts, keratinocytes, immune cells and nerve cells), the skin barrier (stratum corneum), cell-to-cell communication and individual biomolecules (eg. collagen) present in the outer layer of the skin (epidermis) (Costin, 2012).
Nuccetelli was one of the first to measure endogenous (internal) electric fields that occur naturally within the skin (Nuccetelli, 2003). Since it had been previously shown that exogenous (external) electric and EM fields affect a wide variety of skin functions (Cleary, 1993) by modifying the underlying biochemical pathways, Nucetelli’s findings raised the possibility of a resonance between exogenous and endogenous energy fields. This idea allowed cosmetic scientists the opportunity to utilise external EM fields to modulate a wide variety of skin functions. The practicality of this idea for cosmetic scientists is based on the fact that water in a cosmetic product can store information (Chaplin, 2007) and the body is capable of “reading” that information (Rein, 2004). Back in the 1990’s pioneering cosmetic companies like Estee Lauder were developing vibrating devices to generate and apply EM fields to the skin to reduce wrinkles and to dedifferentiate old skin cells back to young cells. However, putting the electrical frequency information into a cosmetic cream for topical application is still rarely used.
Quantum physics and quantum electrodynamics researchers also discovered that frequency information can be stored in water for relatively long periods (DelGiudice, 2015). Although similar conclusions had been reached by the Homoepathy community, these findings were not accepted by mainstream science. Water memory is still controversial, but now there is a mechanistic explanation and more and more experimental studies have confirmed the existence of the phenomena.
In addition to being a novel method for stimulating skin function, electrical stimulation is now being used in conjunction with chemical stimulation. Although few studies have investigated the combined effects, some studies indicate that the two methods are additive and can even be synergistic. For example, the antibacterial properties of aminoglycosides is further enhanced by the addition of electrical current (Erskine, 1995). This phenomenon is called the bioelectric effect (Levin, 2009) and although relatively new it is still rarely being used commercially.
REFERENCES
Chaplin MF. The memory of water: an overview. Homeopathy. 2007 Jul;96(03):143-50.
Cleary SF. A review of in vitro studies: low-frequency electromagnetic fields. American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal. 1993 Apr 1;54(4):178-85.
Costin GE, A Birlea S, A Norris D. Trends in wound repair: cellular and molecular basis of regenerative therapy using electromagnetic fields. Current molecular medicine. 2012 Jan 1;12(1):14-26.
Del Giudice E, Voeikov V, Tedeschi A, Vitiello G. The origin and the special role of coherent water in living systems. Fields of the Cell. 2015:95-111.
Erskine, L., Stewart, R. and McCaig, C.D., 1995. Electric field‐directed growth and branching of cultured frog nerves: Effects of aminoglycosides and polycations. Journal of neurobiology, 26(4), pp.523-536.
Levin M. Bioelectric mechanisms in regeneration: unique aspects and future perspectives. In: Seminars in cell & developmental biology 2009 Jul 1 (Vol. 20, No. 5, pp. 543-556). Academic Press.
Nuccitelli R. A role for endogenous electric fields in wound healing. Current topics in developmental biology. 2003 Jan 1;58(2):1-26.
Rein G. Bioinformation within the biofield: beyond bioelectromagnetics. The Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine. 2004 Feb 1;10(1):59-68.
Schwan HP. Electrical properties of tissues and cell suspensions: mechanisms and models. In: Proceedings of 16th Internat Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society 1994 Nov 3 (Vol. 1, pp. A70-A71). IEEE.
Ullner E, Zaikin A, Garcıa-Ojalvo J, Bascones R, Kurths J. Vibrational resonance and vibrational propagation in excitable systems. Physics Letters A. 2003 Jun 16;312(5-6):348-54.
