FLASH, an Ingestible "Electroceutical" Inspired by Lizard Skin, Could Help Stimulate Hunger Hormones

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, and Brigham and Women's Hospital have developed an "electroceutical" capsule, dubbed FLASH, that they say can electronically stimulate a key hunger hormone — and which is inspired, oddly, by lizard skin.

"An ingestible pill that contains electronics instead of chemicals or drugs is very promising," claims co-first author Khalil Ramadi, PhD, of the team's work on the project, dubbed the Fluid-wicking Capsule for Active Stimulation and Hormone Modulation (FLASH). "It provides a way to deliver targeted electrical pulses to specific cells in the gut in a way that can regulate levels of neural hormones in the body."

The idea behind the FLASH pill: electrical stimulation of the stomach as a way to promote production of ghrelin, a key hormone in the promotion of hunger and the reduction of nausea. While previous approaches to the same problem had relied on permanent implantation of a sort of digestive pacemaker, the FLASH pill is designed to non-invasive: simply swallow it and it gets to work, no surgery required.

To get the electrodes on the capsule into good contact with the stomach, though, the team needed a way to remove the liquid coating which protects the stomach tissue from its own acid. The solution was found in nature — specifically the skin of the Australian thorny devil lizard, which collects water with its ridged scales.

"We were inspired by that to incorporate surface textures and patterns onto the outside of this capsule," says co-lead author James McRae. "That surface can manage the fluid that could potentially prevent the electrodes from touching the tissue in the stomach, so it can reliably deliver electrical stimulation."

"As far as we know," adds co-author Khalil Ramadi, PhD, "this is the first example of using electrical stimuli through an ingestible device to increase endogenous levels of hormones in the body, like ghrelin. And so, it has this effect of utilizing the body's own systems rather than introducing external agents."

The team's work has been tested in porcine models, with senior author Giovanni Traverso, associate professor at MIT and gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital predicting that the device's simplicity means "it's something we can get into humans on a relatively quick time scale."

The paper describing FLASH, meanwhile, has been published in the journal Science Robotics under closed-access terms.