Bio electronic medicine can be the medicine of the future Bashny.Net

Imagine a world where we treat deadly diseases by electricity and not by medicine or pills. Perhaps it may cross over the top of it. Normally, our nervous system sends signals to our tissues and organs, to suppress inflammation, and this phenomenon is known as the inflammatory reflex. But sometimes this system breaks down and can lead to diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.

Traditionally, doctors treat these diseases using drugs that suppress inflammation (we will not go into details and call them by name). But they are very expensive. Plus not on the cause side effects and sometimes even fatal, albeit rarely.

It seems that scientists have found a way to deliver electrical stimulation to the right place to stop chronic inflammation and this therapy they call bio electronic medicine, reports Business Insider.

An unexpected discovery



Like many great scientific discoveries, this was accidentally committed.

Neurosurgeon Kevin Tracey, President and CEO of the Institute for medical research Feinstein in Manhasset, new York, and his colleagues studied a chemical that blocked inflammation of the brain when they discovered that it also reduces inflammation in the spleen and other organs. Then "we just don't understand how the brain can be associated with the immune system," said Tracy.

It turned out, the body has an inflammatory (inflammatory) reflex, which controls our reaction to injury or infection.

The inflammatory reflexWhen the body senses an infection or injury, the brain receives a notification via the vagus nerve, which transmits information from the heart, lungs and other abdominal organs. However, on this street movement bilateral: the brain also sends electrical signals via the vagus nerve to the organs, through the production of inflamatory molecules. But in the case of rheumatoid arthritis, for example, these signals cease to work as it should.

Tracy and his colleagues found a way to recover these signals by implanting tiny electronic devices that can deliver targeted electrical impulse to the vagus nerve. This electrotherapy has been used in the case of some diseases.

The company, founded Tracy, Set Point Medical has conducted clinical trials of this technology in Europe for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and results were promising. But it treats such incentives are the cause of the disease or just alleviate symptoms? Maybe both, but to know for sure will succeed only after a lot of research, says Tracy. Such studies reinforce interest in bioelectronic medicine.

The us defense advanced research Agency (DARPA) launched a program last fall called ElectRx to Fund research on electric treatment of various diseases. The goal of the program ElectRx is to facilitate the delivery of an electrical stimulus to the brain, make it minimally invasive and most accurate, said Doug Weber, DARPA program Manager and bioengineer at the University of Pittsburgh.

But this type of therapy will still be a long way before it becomes widely used. Modern medical devices are still pretty stupid, consist of large electrodes, which stimulate a nerve when you need to touch only a small portion of nerve fibers.

"We want to learn to allocate specific fiber for therapeutic use and acquire technology to directly address those fibers," says Weber. In addition to projects of which we spoke above, DARPA is also planning to Fund projects aimed at the constant monitoring and potential detection of the disease before its appearance.

 

P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! ©

Source: hi-news.ru