New Technology from MIT Can Examine the Neural Circuits Affecting Hunger, Mood, and Disease

 New Technology from MIT Can Examine the Neural Circuits Affecting Hunger, Mood, and Disease

Engineers at MIT have created a method that uses fibers embedded with sensors and light sources for optogenetic stimulation to examine the interactions between the brain and digestive system. The method has been tested on mice, where manipulation of intestine-related cells resulted in sensations of fullness or behavior that seeks rewards. It now becomes possible to investigate the relationship between gut health and neurological disorders like autism and Parkinson's disease.

Connecting the Dots between the gut and the brain

In order to modify the neurological connections between the brain and gut, MIT engineers have created a novel optogenetic technology. This technique may provide fresh information about the relationships between neurological and digestive health.

Signals that assist regulate eating and other actions are constantly transmitted between the brain and the digestive system. This broad network of communication affects our mental health and has been linked to a variety of neurological illnesses.

Making Connections Sense Brain-gut Interaction

Engineers at MIT have created a novel optogenetic technique that can alter the neurological connections between the brain and gut, perhaps revealing correlations between neurological and digestive health.

Constant messages are sent between the brain and the digestive system that assist regulate eating and other actions. This enormous communication system, which has been linked to numerous neurological illnesses, affects our mental health as well.

These stretchable fibers can be utilized to modify and see the connections between the brain and the digestive system since they are embedded with sensors and light sources. Credit: The researchers' kind permission

"What's fascinating about this is that we now have technology that can influence gut health and actions like feeding. More significantly, says Polina Anikeeva, professor of brain and cognitive sciences, director of the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center, associate director of MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics, and associate member of the McGovern Institute, "we have the ability to start accessing the crosstalk between the gut and the brain with the millisecond precision of optogenetics, and we can do it in behaving animals."

The new study, which was released on June 22 in the journal Nature Biotechnology, is led by senior author Anikeeva. Atharva Sahasrabudhe, an MIT graduate student, Laura Rupprecht, a postdoc at Duke University, Sirma Orguc, an MIT postdoc, and former MIT postdoc Tural Khudiyev are the paper's lead authors

Connecting The Brain and Body :

The K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center was established by the McGovern Institute last year to investigate the interactions between the brain and other bodily organs. The purpose of the center's research is to create new treatments for a range of disorders by shedding light on how these connections influence behavior and general health.

Anikeeva claims that there is constant, bidirectional communication between the body and the brain. "For a very long time, we believed that the brain is a tyrant that dictates everything and delivers output into the organs. But as we now know, the brain receives a lot of feedback. This feedback may regulate some of the mental processes that we previously thought were solely under the control of the central nervous system.