by In some diets it is advisable to drink a lot of water to achieve the feeling of satiety that you feel after a heavy meal. Playing with that idea, a team of engineers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology-MIT (USA) has developed a capsule that can be swallowed and vibrates inside the stomach. said vibrations They activate the same receptors that detect the moment in which the stomach is distended, generating a sensation of the illusion of fullness.
Tested on animals, scientists observed that those who received the pill 20 minutes before eating not only saw the release of hormones that indicate a feeling of satiety stimulated, but the animals’ food intake was also reduced by approximately 40 minutes. %.
Although it is still early and there is much to learn about the mechanisms that influence body weight, researchers believe that this technology could be used safely in humans.
“People who want to lose weight or control their appetite could take it before each meal,” he says. Shriya Srinivasan, from MIT. In his opinion, “this option could minimize the side effects of other pharmacological treatments.”
When the stomach distends, specialized cells call mechanoreceptors They detect that stretch and send signals to the brain through the vagus nerve. As a result, the brain stimulates the production of insulin, as well as certain hormones (C-peptide, Pyy and GLP-1). All of these hormones work together to help people digest food, feel full, and stop eating. At the same time, levels of ghrelin, a hormone that promotes appetite, decrease.
Srinivasan is based on the idea of controlling this process by artificially stretching the mechanoreceptors that line the stomach, using vibrations. Previous research has shown that vibration applied to a muscle can induce the sensation that the muscle has been stretched more than it has actually been stretched.
For this study, published in the journal ‘Scientific advances‘, a capsule was designed, which includes a vibrating element. When the pill, which is powered by a small silver oxide battery, reaches the stomach, acidic gastric fluids dissolve a gelatinous membrane that lines the capsule, completing the electronic circuit that activates the vibrating motor.
In animals, researchers showed that once the pill starts vibrating, it activates mechanoreceptors, which send signals to the brain by stimulating the vagus nerve. And when they tracked hormone levels during periods when the device vibrated, they found they mirrored hormone release patterns seen after a meal, even when the animals had fasted.
In a second phase, they tested the effects of this stimulation on the animals’ appetite. They found that when the pill was activated for about 20 minutes, before offering food to the animals, they consumed 40% less, on average, than when the pill was not activated. The animals also gained weight more slowly during the periods when they were treated with the vibrating pill.
The current version of the pill is designed to vibrate for about 30 minutes after reaching the stomach, but researchers plan to explore the possibility of adapting it to remain in the stomach for longer periods of time, where it could be turned on and off wirelessly as needed. In animal studies, the pills passed through the digestive tract in four to five days.
The study also found that the animals did not show any signs of obstruction, perforation or other negative impacts while the pill was in their digestive tract.
The capsules could be manufactured at a cost that would make them available to people who do not have access to more expensive treatment options.
Shriya Srinivasan
Harvard University
According to the researchers, this type of pill could offer an alternative to current approaches to treating obesity. Non-medical interventions, such as dietary exercise, do not always work and many existing medical interventions are quite invasive. These include gastric bypass surgery as well as gastric balloons.
Medications such as GLP-1 agonists, such as ozempic, can also help with weight loss, but most of them must be injected and are unaffordable for many people due to their cost. According to Srinivasan, the MIT capsules could be manufactured at a cost that would make them available to people who do not have access to more expensive treatment options.
“For many populations, some of the most effective therapies for obesity are very expensive. At scale, our device could be manufactured at a fairly profitable price», says the researcher.
The researchers now plan to explore ways to scale up manufacturing of the capsules, which could allow for clinical trials in humans. Such studies will be important to learn more about the safety of the devices, as well as to determine the best time to swallow the capsule before a meal and how often it will need to be administered.
