IMPLANT WIRELESS DEVICES TRIGGER, AND MAY BLOCK, PAIN SIGNALS
Building on wireless
technology that has the potential to interfere with pain, scientists have
developed flexible, implantable devices that can activate -- and, in theory,
block -- pain signals in the body and spinal cord before those signals reach
the brain
The
researchers, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said the implants one day may be
used in different parts of the body to fight pain that doesn't respond to other
therapies.
"Our
eventual goal is to use this technology to treat pain in very specific
locations by providing a kind of 'switch' to turn off the pain signals long
before they reach the brain," said co-senior investigator Robert W. Gereau
IV, PhD, the Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology and director
of the Washington University Pain Center.
The
study is published online Nov. 9 in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Because
the devices are soft and stretchable, they can be implanted into parts of the
body that move, Gereau explained. The devices previously developed by the
scientists had to be anchored to bone.
"But
when we're studying neurons in the spinal cord or in other areas outside of the
central nervous system, we need stretchable implants that don't require
anchoring," he said.
The new devices are held in place with
sutures. Like the previous models, they contain microLED lights that can
activate specific nerve cells. Gereau said he hopes to use the implants to
blunt pain signals in patients who have pain that cannot be managed with
standard therapi Building on
wireless technology that has the potential to interfere with pain, scientists
have developed flexible, implantable devices that can activate -- and, in
theory, block -- pain signals in the body and spinal cord before those signals
reach the braines.
The
researchers experimented with mice that were genetically engineered to have
light-sensitive proteins on some of their nerve cells. To demonstrate that the
implants could influence the pain pathway in nerve cells, the researchers
activated a pain response with light. When the mice walked through a specific
area in a maze, the implanted devices lit up and caused the mice to feel
discomfort. Upon leaving that part of the maze, the devices turned off, and the
discomfort dissipated. As a result, the animals quickly learned to avoid that
part of the maze.
The
experiment would have been very difficult with older optogenetic devices, which
are tethered to a power source and can inhibit the movement of the mice.
Because
the new, smaller, devices are flexible and can be held in place with sutures,
they also may have potential uses in or around the bladder, stomach,
intestines, heart or other organs, according to co-principal investigator John
A. Rogers, PhD, professor of materials science and engineering at the
University of Illinois.
"They
provide unique, biocompatible platforms for wireless delivery of light to
virtually any targeted organ in the body," he said.
Rogers
and Gereau designed the implants with an eye toward manufacturing processes
that would allow for mass production so the devices could be available to other
researchers. Gereau, Rogers and Michael R. Bruchas, PhD, associate professor of
anesthesiology at Washington University, have launched a company called
NeuroLux to aid in that goal.
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