Published in the Nature Biotechnology journal, a recent study conducted by the researchers from Washington University of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, and the University of Illinois has revealed its latest findings on innovative ways to manage pain and potentially block pain signals. It highlights the ability of a certain technology to be implanted under the skin of a patient.
The initiative towards having "wireless, flexible and implantable devices" has been initiated to activate and potentially block pain signals in the spine and in the body before they make it to the brain. This science has taken another innovation into a higher level. With this, the field of optogenetics has adopted "genetically encoded switches" -- turning such neurons on or off with light.
"Our eventual goal is to use this technology to treat pain in very specific locations by providing a kind of 'switch' to turn off the pain signals long before they reach the brain," co-senior investigator Robert W. Gereau IV, Ph.D., professor of Anesthesiology and director of the Washington University Pain Center, explained.
Medical News Today likewise stated in its recent press release that the study was conducted among genetically-engineered mice while using microLED lights that are "anchored to the bone" to activate specific nerve cells. The research team needed to attach the animals to wires, limiting their movability yet enabling the scientists to work with neurons in the spinal cord as well as in other parts of the central nervous system.
"We demonstrate the power of this technology by modulating peripheral and spinal pain circuitry, providing evidence for the potential widespread use of these devices in research and future clinical applications of optogenetics outside the brain," the researchers described when asked about the veracity of their findings.
Science Daily also reported about the team's hope that "this discovery, especially once further enhanced, the implants can be eventually used in different areas of the body to potentially block pain that is not treatable with other therapies."
