Researchers from Texas A&M University introduced a tiny wireless device that could be the answer to fight obesity and help with weight loss by stimulating nerve endings, particularly the vagus nerves, which are responsible for food cravings. This device could be inserted via a simple implantation procedure.
According to Science Daily, the tiny wireless device can be controlled externally from a remote frequency source because it does not need a power cord, unlike other devices.
The device is shaped like a paddle and comprises of microchips and micro LEDs that will light upon targeting the specific vagus nerve endings. The tiny wireless device will be attached to the stomach, wherein researchers hope that it could someday replace the gastric bypass surgery.
Better Than the Gastric Bypass Surgery
Obesity is associated with various health problems, making it a global epidemic that affects over 650 million people worldwide. For example, the United States health care system records about $147 billion in costs due to obesity every year. Also, it gives rise to other severe health conditions, such as diabetes, heart diseases, and some types of cancer.
Obese people would usually turn to diets and exercise, but sometimes the results could take a drastic turn as the person might end up having gastric bypass surgery. It is an invasive procedure that makes a pouch inside the stomach and reroutes the digestive system. Unfortunately, this procedure would require a lot of time for the person to recover.
One of the authors of the study, assistant professor Dr. Sung Il Park from the university's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said that their goal in making the tiny wireless device is to develop a tool that will only require a simple surgery and that will stimulate the vagus nerve.
Park said that their device can do both things, noting that it could someday help people in need of dramatic weight-loss surgeries, MailOnline reported.
Stimulating the Feeling of Fullness
The study, published in this month's issue of Nature Communications, has focused on the vagus nerves as potential targets to treat obesity because they could send sensory information to the brain of a feeling of fullness.
Although there are devices already available, these devices required an external power source. But with wireless technology and the application of genetic and optical tools, nerve stimulation would be easier and more comfortable.
The tiny wireless device has micro LEDs at its flexible tip that is fitted to the stomach. The device's head, called the harvester, housed the microchips for the device to communicate to an external radiofrequency source, and it can also power the micro LEDs to make them light.
The researchers found that the device could be used to stimulate the non-stretch parts of the receptors in the stomach to respond to the chemicals of the food to tell the brain that the stomach is already full.
Stomachs are known to stretch and expand when it is full. This message is sent to the brain via the mechanoreceptors on the vagus nerve, which is a different receptor that the researchers want to target.
Future Studies Using the Tiny Wireless Device
The researchers said that the device could be used in further studies, like manipulating nerve endings in the gastrointestinal tract and other organs to control appetite and other behaviors that are of greatest interest to scientists, Park said.
The novel device will help scientists understand more the neuronal function in the peripheral nervous systems in a new light that was never before done.
Check out more news and information on Obesity on Science Times.
