An Indian-origin engineer from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a new 'vibrating capsule' for relief from obesity. This capsule can make the brain think that it is time to stop eating and thus can provide relief from obesity.
After eating, the capsule produces vibrations within the stomach, which activates the same stretch receptors that cause distension of the stomach, creating an illusionary feeling of fullness. In animals given the pill 20 minutes before eating, researchers found that the treatment not only stimulated the secretion of hormones that signal satiety, but also reduced the animals' food intake by about 40 percent.
Lead author Shreya Srinivasan, a former graduate and postdoc student at MIT, said people who want to lose weight or control their appetite can take it before every meal. "This could be really interesting because it would provide an alternative that could reduce the harms that we see with other medicinal treatments," said Srinivasan, an assistant professor of bioengineering at Harvard University.
How does the medicine work?
In the paper published in the journal Science Advances, Srinivasan explained that when the stomach swells, special cells called mechanoreceptors sense the stretch and send signals to the brain via the vagus nerve. As a result, the brain stimulates the production of insulin as well as hormones such as C-peptide, Pya, and GLP-1. All of these hormones work together to help people digest their food, feel full, and stop eating. Besides, the level of hunger-increasing hormone ghrelin also decreases.
Shreya Srinivasan said that I am surprised that we can activate stretch receptors in the stomach by vibrating and make them feel that the entire stomach is full, which can control hormones and eating patterns. His team designed a multivitamin-sized capsule that includes a vibration element. When the pill, powered by a tiny silver oxide battery, reaches the stomach, the acidic gastric fluid dissolves a gelatin membrane that completes an electronic circuit covering the capsule that activates the vibrations.
Animal studies
In an animal study, researchers showed that once the pill began to vibrate, it activated mechanoreceptors, which send signals to the brain through stimulation of the vagus nerve. . The researchers tracked hormone levels during the period the device was vibrating and found that they mirrored the hormone release patterns seen after meals, even when the animals fasted.
Decreased appetite by 40%
The pill not only reduced the animals' appetite by 40 percent, but it also helped the animals gain weight more slowly when they were treated with the vibrating pill. The study also found that the animals showed no signs of blockage, perforation or other negative effects while the pill was in their digestive tract. These are expensive compared to drugs like GLP-1 agonists and have to be injected. The creation of MIT capsules will make it available to people who do not have access to more expensive treatments.
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