The obesity epidemic, affecting nearly 42% of US adults (1, 2), increasingly strains healthcare resources by increasing the incidence of comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and heart disease

Effective therapies for obesity require invasive surgical and endoscopic interventions or high patient adherence, making it challenging for patients with obesity to effectively manage their disease.

Gastric mechanoreceptors sense distension of the stomach and perform volume-dependent vagal signaling to initiate the gastric phase and influence satiety. A new study in Science Advances reports an ingestible electronic vibrator created a euphoric state of fullness and caused less intake of food helping in treating obesity.
Vagal nerve signaling plays a critical role in satiation through a negative feedback loop in which anorexigenic neurometabolic secretions are released in response to food intake Distension of the stomach by food contents is transduced by intraganglionic laminar endings (IGLEs), the most prevalent type of vagal afferents innervating the gastric musculature, which sense contraction and distension

In this study, researchers developed a new luminal stimulation modality to specifically activate these gastric stretch receptors to elicit a vagal afferent response commensurate with mechanical distension. They designed the Vibrating Ingestible BioElectronic Stimulator (VIBES) pill, an ingestible device that performs luminal vibratory stimulation to activate mechanoreceptors and stroke mucosal receptors, which induces serotonin release and yields a hormonal metabolic response commensurate with a fed state.
Researchers evaluated VIBES across 108 meals in swine which consistently led to diminished food intake (~40%, P < 0.0001) and minimized the weight gain rate (P < 0.05) as compared to untreated controls. Application of mechanoreceptor biology could transform our capacity to help patients suffering from nutritional disorders.
Reference:
Shriya S. Srinivasan et al. ,A vibrating ingestible bioelectronic stimulator modulates gastric stretch receptors for illusory satiety.Sci. Adv.9,eadj3003(2023).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adj3003.