title: Skin rejuvenation with non-invasive pulsed electric fields.
abstract: Degenerative skin diseases affect one third of individuals over the age of sixty. Current therapies use various physical and chemical methods to rejuvenate skin; but since the therapies affect many tissue components including cells and extracellular matrix, they may also induce significant side effects, such as scarring. Here we report on a new, non-invasive, non-thermal technique to rejuvenate skin with pulsed electric fields. The fields destroy cells while simultaneously completely preserving the extracellular matrix architecture and releasing multiple growth factors locally that induce new cells and tissue growth. We have identified the specific pulsed electric field parameters in rats that lead to prominent proliferation of the epidermis, formation of microvasculature, and secretion of new collagen at treated areas without scarring. Our results suggest that pulsed electric fields can improve skin function and thus can potentially serve as a novel non-invasive skin therapy for multiple degenerative skin diseases.
authors.affiliation: 1] Center for Engineering in Medicine, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Shriners Burns Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114 [2] Porter School of Environmental Studies, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Golberg
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic and Reconstruction Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114.
authors.forename: Saiqa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Shriners Burns Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114.
authors.forename: Vasily
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Belov
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155.
authors.forename: Kyle P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Albadawi
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic and Reconstruction Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Felix Broelsch
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114.
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Georgakoudi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Shriners Burns Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114.
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Papisov
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.
authors.forename: Martin C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Mihm
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic and Reconstruction Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114.
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Austen
authors.affiliation: 1] Center for Engineering in Medicine, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Shriners Burns Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114 [2] Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854.
authors.forename: Martin L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Yarmush
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003357:Cosmetic Techniques; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D004817:Epidermis / Q000378:metabolism; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012060:Rejuvenation