Imagine a world where we treated deadly diseases with electricity instead of pills or chemo.
We might not be as far from this reality as you think.
Normally, our nervous systems send signals to our tissues and organs to suppress inflammation,
a phenomenon known as the inflammatory reflex. But sometimes, this
system gets out of whack, and can even result in diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.
Traditionally, doctors have treated these diseases using drugs
designed to suppress inflammation, such as infliximab (trade name
Remicade) oradalimumab (Humira). But these drugs are expensive. Plus,
they don't work for everyone, often come with nasty side effects, and
sometimes, although rarely, they can even kill.
Now, some researchers have found a way to deliver electrical
stimulation to just the right areas to stop chronic inflammation in its
tracks — a therapy they're calling bioelectronic medicine.
Like many great ideas in science, this one came as an accident.
Neurosurgeon Kevin Tracey, the president and CEO of the Feinstein
Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, and his
colleagues were studying a chemical that blocked inflammation in the
brain, when they found it also decreased inflammation in the spleen and
other organs. At the time, "we didn't understand how the brain could be
communicating with the immune system," Tracey told Business Insider.
As it turns out, the body has an inflammatory reflex that controls how we respond to injury or infection.
When the body senses an infection or injury, the brain is notified
via the vagus nerve, which relays information from the heart, lungs, and
other abdominal organs. But it's a two-way street: The brain also sends
electrical signals via the vagus nerve to the organs, tamping down the
production of inflammatory molecules. But in diseases like rheumatoid
arthritis, these signals stop working effectively.
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