Changed electrical properties of diseased or dysfunctional tissue with respect to healthy tissue are attributed to increased cellular water retention, increased Na⁺ (sodium) content, and altered membrane permeability, changes in tissue density, and orientation of cells.^{3 27 28 29} The conductivity is a measure of the mobility of ions in the extra cellular fluid in the presence of an electric field. A tissue’s aqueous composition (ratio of extra cellular to intracellular volume) determines travel of current; therefore, electrical conductivity is tissue-specific.³ Tissues normally vary in aqueous content; moreover, cells that are damaged (i.e. display pathology) retain water, possess increased impedance, and therefore lose electrons.³⁰ By definition, increased impedance also means decreased membrane capacitance; that is, decreased ability to store electrons as an energy reserve for ATP synthesis in mitochondria.

Lack of energy causes disruption in the osmotic gradient and electrolyte balances normally maintained by the cell, leading to an influx of sodium ions to the interior of the cell, and water follows the sodium. Reiterating the loss of electrons in cellular membranes due to increased impedance and decreased capacitance leads to chronic swelling and tissue water retention--edema. Cellular redox potential is decreased.

Damaged cells become electropositive with respect to surrounding normal cells. BEST intervention restores electro negativity (electrons) to deficient cellular membranes therefore restoring the redox potential of the cell, i.e., recharging their biological batteries. It has been shown that stimulation with currents from 50-1000 micro amps can increase tissue ATP concentrations in rats by 300-500%.³¹ Amino acid transport through the cell membrane and consequent protein synthesis is also increased by as much as 40%.²³ Therefore charging the dielectric, the cell membrane, will increase intracellular ATP in damaged cells, providing additional metabolic energy. Edema diminishes as homeostatic electrolyte and osmotic gradients re-establish themselves.

Russian doctors developed the concept of vegetative dysfunction of neural tissue in particular, and all tissues in general.³² When one tissue or organ is depleted of electrons then the metabolic function of the tissue degenerates, and the body makes adjustments by pulling electrons from other tissues in a balancing act to maintain the highest level of capacitance (i.e. redox potential, charge) possible for energy resources available. Organs are paired so that deficient organs will borrow electrons from their partner to remedy the deficiency. This process continues until the donating organ degenerates, which in turn borrows from wherever possible. The body continues to compensate for electron deficiency and signaling patterns, exacerbating in a downward spiral to a terminal event.

Because neuropeptides, neurotransmitters, and nitric oxide (NO) are all highly energetic molecules, their synthesis requires large amounts of ATP. Presynaptic nerve cells have the high numbers of mitochondria per cell, and they are located in the dendrites in close proximity to presynaptic junctions and neurotransmitter synthesizing areas of the cell.^{33 34}

BEST devices send signals designed to modify the body’s abnormal signal. The resulting stimulation and response continues in dampened oscillation until normalcy is achieved. Thus, with modern biofeedback, the body’s abnormal electrical signalling can be retrained.

Damaged tissues lock into a pattern of abnormal signaling as other organ systems adjust to the abnormal tissue. The adaptive reaction of the organism to the pathological change in environment allows for the maximum length of survival. In the body a great variety of manifestations of adaptive reactions are capable of existing.
Clinically, tremendous energy at the cellular level is required to affect a permanent change from a refractory dysfunctional state back to optimal homeostasis. Identifying energetic deficiencies and supplying electrons or identifying excess electrons and removing them until a normal redox potential is achieved has not been an accepted paradigm for western medicine. However, it has been extensively studied and well understood in oriental and modern Russian medicine. Cultural and financial pressures have forced these societies to seek solutions that are more economical than wholly pharmaceutical-based approaches to therapeutics.