A variety of conditions can cause loss of appetite, but important for those people are: keep eat for recovery. The new “Electroceutical” ingestible capsules can help by making you feel hungry…and it was inspired by lizard skin.
Normally, when our stomach is empty, endocrine cells in the mucosal lining produce a hormone known as ghrelin. The release of this hormone triggers the enteric nervous system’s hunger response, prompting us to eat. Unfortunately, some diseases can make these cells less active and cause less appetite.
Previously, scientists had considered using pacemaker-like devices to stimulate endocrine cells to artificially secrete ghrelin. That would be a very invasive procedure. The use of externally applied electrodes has also been investigated, but it has proven difficult to deliver current directly to the stomach lining.
With these limitations in mind, a team of scientists from MIT, New York University, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital turned to the Australian spiny devil lizard.More specifically, they turned to its skin – which has a surface texture that depicts sinking water droplets. upon Skin towards the animal’s mouth.
The result of this research is an ingestible device known as FLASH, which stands for “fluid wicking capsule for active stimulation and hormone regulation.”
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The interior of the capsule contains the battery and electronics, while its polymer outer shell incorporates a corkscrew-like groove that runs nearly the entire length of the device.
When one side of the capsule contacts the stomach lining, a hydrophilic (water-attracting) coating on the underside of the groove wicks liquid away from the membrane, allowing the electrode on the higher ridge of the groove to make full contact with the stomach. organization. These electrodes then send an electrical current through the membrane, stimulating endocrine cells to produce ghrelin.
In tests conducted in pigs, FLASH was found to be effective within 20 minutes of ingestion and to cause a “massive spike” in ghrelin secretion over about an hour. The capsule was eventually passed harmlessly with the feces. No adverse side effects were observed.
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“This study helps establish electrical stimulation with ingestible electroceuticals as a mode of triggering hormone release through the gastrointestinal tract,” said Assoc, senior author of the study.MIT and Professor Giovanni Traverso, both at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “We show an example of how to engage the gastric mucosa to release hormones, which we anticipate could be used in other parts of the gastrointestinal tract not investigated here.”
Scientists believe human trials could begin within three years. FLASH technology is expected to eventually replace appetite stimulants that can cause unwanted side effects.
A paper on this study was recently published in the journal science roboticsThe way the capsule works is explained in the following video.
Flash – full length
Source: MIT, New York University via EurekAlert, Brigham and Women’s Hospital via EurekAlert
