A short review about electrophysiology and bioimpedance: history and perspectives

During the 18th century, in the scientific world emerged two personalities that greatly influenced medicine and science: Luigi Galvani e Alessandro Volta. The theories and inventions of these scientists were the starting point for the knowledge of excitable tissue physiology and for the development of electrical and electronic instruments that are now widely used in the biomedical field, such as the ECG and biomedical chips. Currently, different tecniques are available for different patients and scopes, but some issues regarding both hardware and software need to be solved, for example electrode position, spatial resolution and, moreover, standardization of reference values for specific populations and conditions. The purpose of this short review is to highlight how Volta’s and Galvani's studies allowed the development of impedenziometric instruments, which are increasingly used for non-invasive diagnostics in many health and illness conditions.