MIT resembles a new vibrating capsule drink a full glass of water before eating. Nutritionists recommend the latter as a method to send signals to your brain to simulate the feeling of fullness. The researchers behind the new work further suggest it as a future alternative to surgery and GLP-1s. The latter, which includes semaglutides such as Ozempic and Wegovy, are both wildly popular and prohibitively expensive, due in large part to FDA laws.
MIT’s capsule has had some laboratory success. Giving the mice the pill 20 minutes before eating reduced their consumption by about 40%, per group. Like the water glass trick, the capsule stimulates mechanoreceptors, which send a signal to the brain via the vagus cranial nerve. Once activated, the brain starts producing insulin, GLP-1, C-peptide and PYY hormones, reducing hunger while speeding up the digestion process.
“Behavior change is profound, and this uses the endogenous system rather than any exogenous therapeutic,” notes Associate Professor Giovanni Traverso. “We have the potential to overcome some of the challenges and costs associated with biologic drug delivery by modulating the enteric nervous system.”
The capsule, which is about the size of a standard multivitamin, contains a vibrating motor, powered by a silver oxide battery. After reaching the stomach, stomach acid dissolves the outer layer and completes the circuit, starting the vibration.
Beyond efficiency, the team is working to determine the security of the system. This requires a method to scale up production and eventually human trials. “At scale, our device could be manufactured at a fairly affordable price,” says postdoctoral researcher Shriya Srinivasan.
Capsule-based technology treatments have been a hot category in recent years, as researchers explore ingestible sensors and even micro-robotic systems.
