Editing Microcurrent electrical neuromuscular stimulator (section)

== History ==
The body's electrical capabilities were studied at least as early as 1830, when the Italian [[Carlo Matteucci]] is credited as being one of the first to measure the electrical current in injured tissue. Bioelectricity received less attention after the discovery of [[penicillin]], when the focus of medical research and treatments turned toward the body's chemical processes.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Robert O. Becker, M.D.  |author2=Gary Selden |title=The Body Electric: Electromagnetism And The Foundation of Life |pages=17–21 }}</ref> Attention began to return to these properties and the possibilities of using very low current for healing in the mid-1900s. In a study published in 1969, for example, a team of researchers led by L.E. Wolcott applied microcurrent to a wide variety of wounds, using [[negative polarity]] over [[lesion]]s in the initial phase, and then alternating application of positive and negative [[electrode]]s every three days. The stimulation current ranged from 200 to 800 uA and the treated group showed 200%-350% faster healing rates, with stronger [[tensile strength]] of scar tissue and antibacterial effects.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Wolcott LE, Wheeler PC, Hardwicke HM, Rowley BA |title=Accelerated healing of skin ulcer by electrotherapy: preliminary clinical results |journal=Southern Medical Journal |issue=7 |pages=795–801 |year=1969 |pmid=5306004 |volume=62 |doi=10.1097/00007611-196907000-00008}}</ref> 

In 1991, the German scientists Drs. [[Erwin Neher]] and [[Bert Sakmann]] shared the [[Nobel Prize]] in Physiology or Medicine for their development of the [[patch-clamp technique]] that allows the detection of minute electrical currents through [[cell membrane]]s. This method allowed the detection of more than 20 different types of [[ion channel]] which permit positive or negatively charged ions to cross the cell membrane, confirming that cellular electrical activity is not limited only to nerve and muscle tissues.{{cn|date=November 2018}}