Summary: Researchers have developed a new implantable device that can “cool” nerves and provide on-demand pain relief for those suffering from neuropathic or chronic pain.
Source: AAAS
An implantable device designed to “cool” nerves can provide demand-driven pain relief, the researchers report. When tested in rats with neuropathic pain, the device produced a very localized cooling.
“An implantable cooling device with local analgesia on demand will be a game changer for long-term pain management,” write Shan Jiang and Guosong Hong in a related perspective. It offers a promising path to the creation of a class of analgesic devices for the management of long-term non-opioid pain.
Pain management is an urgent health issue for many, who often have to resort to effective but highly addictive and sometimes deadly opioid medications. This has made the development of localized, non-opioid and non-addictive alternatives very attractive.
One such approach is analgesic nerve cooling, which promises to be an effective and reversible way to relieve pain, even after amputations, nerve grafts, or spinal decompression surgeries, as examples. Like putting ice on a sore joint or muscle, the specific application of cold temperature directly to the nerves can block the conduction of pain signals, providing temporary relief.
However, conventional nerve cooling devices are bulky and rigid, with nonspecific cooling and high power requirements, qualities that impede practical clinical use.
To address this, Jonathan Reeder and colleagues developed a soft, miniaturized, and implantable nerve cooling system based on state-of-the-art flexible and microfluidic electronic technologies.
Reeder et al. Use a liquid-to-gas phase transition within the microfluidic channels in an elastic band that surrounds the peripheral nerves to provide targeted cooling. A thin film thermal sensor integrated in the device provides real-time temperature monitoring and control.
Reeder et al. Use a liquid-to-gas phase transition within the microfluidic channels in an elastic band that surrounds the peripheral nerves to provide targeted cooling. The image is in the public domain
Because the device is made of water-soluble and biocompatible materials, it is bioabsorbable (i.e., it degrades), reducing the risk of surgery required.
To demonstrate the ability of the device, the authors performed in vivo experiments on neuropathic pain rat models, cooling the peripheral nerves quickly and accurately to provide local and on-demand pain relief.
“In addition to the demonstrated strengths of the miniaturized flexible cooling device for pain mitigation,” Jiang and Hong write in the related perspective, “technology offers more opportunities for neuroscience research and neurological practice.”
About this news of research in neurotechnology and pain
Author: Gabinet de PremsaSource: AAASContact: Gabinet de Premsa – AAASIIimage: The image is in the public domain
See also
Original search: Closed access. “Soft, bioresorbable coolers for reversible peripheral nerve conduction block” by Jonathan T. Reeder et al. Science
Summary
Soft, bioresorbable coolers for reversible conduction blockage of peripheral nerves
Implantable devices capable of directly and reversibly blocking peripheral nerve activity may provide alternatives to opioids for treating pain. Local cooling represents an attractive means for the on-demand removal of pain signals, but traditional technologies are limited by rigid and bulky form factors; inaccurate cooling; and requirements for extraction surgeries.
Here, we introduce soft, bioresorbable microfluidic devices that allow the delivery of a focused and minimally invasive cooling power to arbitrary depths in living tissues with real-time temperature feedback control. Construction with water-soluble and biocompatible materials leads to dissolution and bioresorption as a mechanism to eliminate unnecessary device load and risk to the patient without additional surgeries.
Multi-week in vivo assays demonstrate the ability to cool peripheral nerves quickly and accurately to provide local analgesia on demand in rat models for neuropathic pain.