Self-powered implantable electrical stimulator for osteoblasts' proliferation and differentiation

Osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related fractures were considered as worldwide diseases and arose wide public concern, the costs for incident osteoporosis-related fractures in United States is nearly $17 billion in 2005 [1], leading to large economic burden. Here, we proposed a self-powered flexible and implantable electrical stimulator, which consisting of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and a flexible interdigitated electrode. It demonstrated that this self-powered electrical stimulator significantly promoted osteoblasts' attachment, proliferation and differentiation, the level of intracellular Ca2+ was up-regulated after electrical stimulation. In addition, the self-powered electrical stimulator was further demonstrated to be driven by the daily movement of a rat, suggesting the practical use as an implantable medical electronic device to electrically induce osteoblasts' differentiation and bone remodeling. Described above, the self-powered electrical stimulator probably could meddle bone homeostasis, alleviate osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related fractures. This work shows great progress not only for TENGs' applications in implantable medical devices but also for clinical therapy of osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related fractures.