Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have uncovered a groundbreaking way to control the immune system using electricity. Their study shows that applying electrical stimulation to macrophages—specialized white blood cells—can suppress harmful inflammation and accelerate tissue repair, paving the way for new treatments for injuries and chronic diseases.
Macrophages play a dual role in immunity: they destroy pathogens and clear cellular debris, but when overactive, they can drive damaging inflammation. Finding ways to regulate these cells has long been a focus of medical science.
In the new research, published in Cell Reports Physical Science, scientists collected macrophages from healthy blood donors at St. James’s Hospital and tested them in a custom bioreactor. When exposed to electrical currents, the cells shifted into a healing mode. The team observed reduced activity of pro-inflammatory markers and increased expression of genes that encourage blood vessel growth—vital for tissue regeneration. Electrical signals also helped recruit stem cells to damaged areas, further enhancing repair.
Dr. Sinead O’Rourke, first author of the study, explained:
“We have known for a very long time that the immune system is vital for repairing damage in our body and that macrophages play a central role in fighting infection and guiding tissue repair… very little was known about how it affects human macrophages prior to this work.”
Senior investigators Professors Aisling Dunne and Michael Monaghan highlighted the broader impact, noting that the findings suggest a safe, adaptable, and widely applicable therapy. Prof. Monaghan added:
“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.”
This discovery positions electrical stimulation as a promising frontier in regenerative medicine, with the potential to transform treatments for countless inflammatory conditions.
Scientists Harness Electricity to Reprogram Immune Cells, Speeding Up Healing
