In vivo vagus nerve stimulation holds great promise in regulating food intake for obesity treatment. Here we present an implanted vagus nerve stimulation system that is battery-free and spontaneously responsive to stomach movement. The vagus nerve stimulation system comprises a flexible and biocompatible nanogenerator that is attached on the surface of stomach. It generates biphasic electric pulses in responsive to the peristalsis of stomach. The electric signals generated by this device can stimulate the vagal afferent fibers to reduce food intake and achieve weight control. This strategy is successfully demonstrated on rat models. Within 100 days, the average body weight is controlled at 350 g, 38% less than the control groups. This work correlates nerve stimulation with targeted organ functionality through a smart, self-responsive system, and demonstrated highly effective weight control. This work also provides a concept in therapeutic technology using artificial nerve signal generated from coordinated body activities.
Skin wound healing is a major health care issue. While electric stimulations have been known for decades to be effective for facilitating skin wound recovery, practical applications are still largely limited by the clumsy electrical systems. Here, we report an efficient electrical bandage for accelerated skin wound healing. On the bandage, an alternating discrete electric field is generated by a wearable nanogenerator by converting mechanical displacement from skin movements into electricity. Rat studies demonstrated rapid closure of a fullthickness rectangular skin wound within 3 days as compared to 12 days of usual contraction-based healing processes in rodents. From in vitro studies, the accelerated skin wound healing was attributed to electric field-facilitated fibroblast migration, proliferation, and transdifferentiation. This selfpowered electric-dressing modality could lead to a facile therapeutic strategy for nonhealing skin wound treatment.
Soft neural electrode arrays that are mechanically matched between neural tissues and electrodes offer valuable opportunities for the development of disease diagnose and brain computer interface systems. Here, a thermal release transfer printing method for fabrication of stretchable bioelectronics, such as soft neural electrode arrays, is presented. Due to the large, switchable and irreversible change in adhesion strength of thermal release tape, a low‐cost, easy‐to‐operate, and temperature‐controlled transfer printing process can be achieved. The mechanism of this method is analyzed by experiments and fracture‐mechanics models. Using the thermal release transfer printing method, a stretchable neural electrode array is fabricated by a sacrificial‐layer‐free process. The ability of the as‐fabricated electrode array to conform different curvilinear surfaces is confirmed by experimental and theoretical studies. High‐quality electrocorticography signals of anesthetized rat are collected with the as‐fabricated electrode array, which proves good conformal interface between the electrodes and dura mater. The application of the as‐fabricated electrode array on detecting the steady‐state visual evoked potentials research is also demonstrated by in vivo experiments and the results are compared with those detected by stainless‐steel screw electrodes.
Hair loss, a common and distressing symptom, has been plaguing humans. Various pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments have been widely studied to achieve the desired effect for hair regeneration. As a nonpharmacological physical approach, physiologically appropriate alternating electric field plays a key role in the field of regenerative tissue engineering. Here, a universal motion-activated and wearable electric stimulation device that can effectively promote hair regeneration via random body motions was designed. Significantly facilitated hair regeneration results were obtained from Sprague–Dawley rats and nude mice. Higher hair follicle density and longer hair shaft length were observed on Sprague–Dawley rats when the device was employed compared to conventional pharmacological treatments. The device can also improve the secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor and keratinocyte growth factor and thereby alleviate hair keratin disorder, increase the number of hair follicles, and promote hair regeneration on genetically defective nude mice. This work provides an effective hair regeneration strategy in the context of a nonpharmacological self-powered wearable electronic device.
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