ABSTRACT
BIOMIMETIC ELECTRICITY FOR DERMATOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS Electrical stimulation of the body used in electrotherapy, and iontophoretic drug delivery are typically achieved by the use of battery-powered electronic medical devices, which are often complicated and cumbersome to use. Other means of applying biomimetic electricity to the body conveniently and effectively are therefore highly desirable. Physiological level of biomimetic electricity may be derived from the electrochemical reactions of a galvanic couple, a pair of dissimilar metals electrically connected together in contact with a conductive electrolyte medium. Galvanic current is the electron flow that runs between the two dissimilar metals of a galvanic couple and the surrounding electrolyte solution. The theory of galvanic couple’s electrochemical reactions is well known and is the underlying principle for batteries/electrochemical cells. Galvanic electrochemical reactions have been used as the electrical power source in commercial medical devices based on a zinc-silver/silver chloride galvanic couple for transdermal iontophoretic drug delivery (57,58). Electrochemical reactions on the electrode surfaces of the galvanic couple concurrently generate zinc ions on zinc anode via oxidation of metallic zinc, and hydrogen gas on the cathode via reduction of hydrogen ions in the water (59). We are reporting here a new method of delivering biomimetic electricity for anti-inflammatory effects by using fine particles of zinc-copper galvanic couple made of pure metallic zinc metal partially coated with metallic copper (bimineral complex) with a coplanar electrode configuration for the zinc anode and copper cathode similar to that reported by Doig and Flewitt (60).
