Ingestible ‘Electric’ Capsule Curbs Appetite

Hormones released by the stomach, such as ghrelin, play a key role in stimulating appetite. These hormones are produced by endocrine cells that are part of the enteric nervous system, which controls hunger, nausea, and feelings of fullness.

MIT engineers have now shown that they can stimulate these endocrine cells to produce ghrelin, using an ingestible capsule that delivers an electrical current to the cells. 

In tests in animals, the researchers showed that this “electroceutical” capsule could significantly boost ghrelin production in the stomach. They believe this approach could also be adapted to deliver electrical stimulation to other parts of the GI tract.

The enteric nervous system controls all aspects of digestion, including the movement of food through the GI tract. Some patients with gastroparesis, a disorder of the stomach nerves that leads to very slow movement of food, have shown symptomatic improvement after electrical stimulation generated by a pacemaker-like device that can be surgically implanted in the stomach.

Doctors had theorized that the electrical stimulation would provoke the stomach into contracting, which would help push food along. However, it was later found that while the treatment does help patients feel better, it affected motility to a lesser degree. 

The MIT team hypothesized that the electrical stimulation of the stomach might be leading to the release of ghrelin, which is known to promote hunger and reduce feelings of nausea.

To test that hypothesis, the researchers used an electrical probe to deliver electrical stimulation in the stomachs of animals. 

They found that after 20 minutes of stimulation, ghrelin levels in the bloodstream were considerably elevated. They also found that electrical stimulation did not lead to any significant inflammation or other adverse effects.

Once they established that electrical stimulation was provoking ghrelin release, the researchers set out to see if they could achieve the same thing using a device that could be swallowed and temporarily reside in the stomach. One of the main challenges in designing such a device is ensuring that the electrodes on the capsule can contact the stomach tissue, which are coated with fluid.

To create a drier surface that electrodes can interact with, the researchers gave their capsule a grooved surface that wicks fluid away from the electrodes. The surface they designed is inspired by the skin of the Australian thorny devil lizard, which uses ridged scales to collect water. When the lizard touches water with any part of its skin, water is transported by capillary action along the channels to the lizard’s mouth.

“We were inspired by that to incorporate surface textures and patterns onto the outside of this capsule,” McRae says. “That surface can manage the fluid that could potentially prevent the electrodes from touching the tissue in the stomach, so it can reliably deliver electrical stimulation.”

Hormone boost

The researchers tested their capsule by administering it into the stomachs of large animals, and they found that the capsule produced a substantial spike in ghrelin levels in the bloodstream.

“As far as we know, this is the first example of using electrical stimuli through an ingestible device to increase endogenous levels of hormones in the body, like ghrelin. And so, it has this effect of utilizing the body’s own systems rather than introducing external agents,” Ramadi says.

The researchers found that in order for this stimulation to work, the vagus nerve, which controls digestion, must be intact. They theorize that the electrical pulses transmit to the brain via the vagus nerve, which then stimulates endocrine cells in the stomach to produce ghrelin.

Traverso’s lab now plans to explore using this approach in other parts of the GI tract, and the researchers hope to test the device in human patients within the next three years. 

If developed for use in human patients, this type of treatment could potentially replace or complement some of the existing drugs used to prevent nausea and stimulate appetite in people with cachexia or anorexia, the researchers say.

Sources:

Khalil B. Ramadi, James C. McRae, George Selsing, Arnold Su, Rafael Fernandes, Maela Hickling, Brandon Rios, Sahab Babaee, Seokkee Min, Declan Gwynne, Neil Zixun Jia, Aleyah Aragon, Keiko Ishida, Johannes Kuosmanen, Josh Jenkins, Alison Hayward, Ken Kamrin, Giovanni Traverso. Bioinspired, ingestible electroceutical capsules for hunger-regulating hormone modulation. Science Robotics, 2023; 8 (77) DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.ade9676

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2023, April 26). Ingestible ‘electroceutical’ capsule stimulates hunger-regulating hormone: The device, which uses electricity to boost hormone production in the stomach, could help to ease nausea and counteract appetite loss. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 28, 2023 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/04/230426210413.htm

Photo by JESHOOTS.com from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-holding-half-full-glass-and-white-medicine-pill-576831/