Spatially confined triboelectric acupuncture drives biometric reprogramming in cutaneous wounds

Chronic skin wounds are characterized by the presence of chronic inflammation, the lack of angiogenesis, as well as the disruption of endogenous electric fields (EFs), which make them resistant to standard treatments. Despite this, the limitations of traditional electroacupuncture treatments are that they do not re-create localized, biologically scaled electrical gradients required to heal wounds, are dependent on external sources of power, and lacks spatial precision. In this case we present an acupuncture platform based on triboelectric, powered by itself that provides spatially localized, low amplitude alternating current (pA-µA scale) directly to wound edges, replicating natural patterns of EF. These triboelectric nanogenerators, embedded in acupuncture needles, neither need external power nor produce alternating currents in a constant frequency when activated by a human. Output in vivo ranged between 0.5 and 12 µA in the acute model and 0.05‐0.8 µA in the chronic model which is consistent with galvanotactic thresholds reported in the literature. We present evidence that TENG-based electrostimulation is more effective than its counterpart in the induction of wound healing, vascular regeneration and immune response. Mechanistically, TENG stimulation decreased proinflammatory cytokines, augmented the anti-inflammatory markers, and augmented the angiogenic markers, and reduced the oxidative stress as well as augmented the eNOS expression. The polarization of the macrophage shift to increased neovascularization and gene expression profiling was confirmed by confocal immunohistochemistry and excellent correlations between current amplitude and biological repair measures. Our results prove triboelectric acupuncture to be a minimally invasive, tunable, and self-powered bioelectronic therapy. Reforming localized EF cues through this platform will provide an opportunity to perform localized immunovascular reprogramming in acute and chronic wounds, providing a viable pathway to smart, autonomous wound care systems in clinical practice. © 2026 The Author(s).