Bioimpedance analysis of vascular tissue and fluid flow in human and plant body: A review.

Bioimpedance is a non-invasive technique that finds diverse applications in living systems for tissue characterisation and diagnosis of disease. Biological tissue exposed under alternating current exhibits complex impedance behaviour that requires effective underlying biophysical and electrical models for such applications. Whilst bioimpedance has been widely explored in clinical applications on human body, its impact on agriculture industry is currently limited. Hence the paper reviews bioimpedance method with a focus on evaluating underlying biophysical models and analysis techniques, and identifying differences and similarities between human and plant-based applications. The application emphasis for the human body includes tissue composition, nutritional assessment, and analysis of the cardiovascular system for blood flow, cardiac output, and vascular compliance. The emphasis for applications in plants includes nutritional assessment and vascular tissue and flow characteristics. Bioimpedance is shown to be an invaluable tool in tissue engineering for both the systems. However, many challenges remain for both, including insufficient accuracy of biophysical models leading to false-positive diagnosis, limitation of analysis techniques to specific population groups or tissue type, and need for devices and technological improvements to improve accessibility to new applications such as precision agriculture. This review thus identifies critical technological and application gaps in bioimpedance for future research. • Bioimpedance analysis differences for humans and plant applications are provided. • Underlying biophysical models and analysis techniques are summarised. • Applications include nutritional, vascular tissue, and vascular flow assessment. • Critical technological and application gaps for future research are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]