Against abdomen issues, swallow a bit robotic! | EUROtoday
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HAS At first look, it’s a easy capsule, simple to swallow as a result of it’s barely bigger than a paracetamol pill. But inside hides an actual little autonomous robotic able to deploy its giant arms to journey by the digestive tract by clinging to its partitions. Called Inspire, this unimaginable machine has simply been offered within the journal Science Robotics by a crew of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, United States. It was designed to deal with “paralysis” of the gut.
Our digestive tract is pushed by muscular contractions permitting meals to maneuver from the mouth to the anus. This phenomenon, known as peristalsis in scientific jargon, is due to this fact very important. But it occurs that it’s blocked, paralyzed, particularly after stomach surgical procedure, when the intestines have been manipulated.
Simple and really ingenious
We then communicate of postoperative ileus. It is exactly this drawback and different intestinal motility issues that American researchers want to deal with with Inspire. They are chargeable for intestinal obstructions, accumulation of fuel and fluids, bloating, stomach distention, constipation, vomiting, nausea, and many others.
The operation of the system is each easy and really ingenious. Its design consists of two arms which type an S 35 millimeters excessive by 30 millimeters huge. Each arm is provided on its floor with two tiny electrodes. In the middle of the S are an digital circuit and a small battery. Everything is folded and encapsulated in a type of biocompatible and biodegradable capsule.
Once ingested, the capsule dissolves to launch the robotic within the small gut. Inspire can then deploy its giant arms, which is able to relaxation on the wall of the gut. The onboard electronics will then produce small electrical discharges which stimulate the enteric nervous system in touch with the wall, an unlimited community of neurons also known as the second mind.
“Electrical stimulation locally activates the intestinal muscle layer and causes contractions. It also provides a “boost” to the enteric nervous system, which helps restore peristalsis. In addition, intestinal contractions are additionally triggered when the gut is regionally distended, resulting from an accumulation of meals. The system, due to its growth capability, reproduces this impact,” specifies, at PointShriya Srinivasan, assistant professor of bioengineering at Harvard and first creator of the publication.
For the second, the robotic has proven its effectiveness in pigs. It nonetheless must be examined in people. “Despite the similarity between the digestive systems of pigs and humans, adaptation and optimization of the device are still necessary before considering tests on humans,” explains Shriya Srinivasan. American scientists are significantly drawing consideration to the consequences {that electrical} stimulation may have on the intestinal microbiota. The latter, along with its basic motion on digestion, additionally performs an essential function on the immune system in addition to the nervous system. It would due to this fact be annoying to switch one drawback with one other.
https://www.lepoint.fr/sante/contre-les-problemes-de-ventre-avalez-un-petit-robot-28-02-2024-2553825_40.php