Researchers developed a wirelessly powered implant that lowered blood glucose in mice with type 2 diabetes and obesity, according to a study published in Science. Glucose reached the normal range within an hour of activation. Repeated treatment maintained glucose control for six weeks without detectable low blood sugar, the researchers report. Treated mice also had lower triglyceride concentrations and body weight.
Called ECHO, the under-the-skin implant is roughly the size of a USB stick, Scientific American reports. When powered, its gold-and-platinum catalyst turns glucose into gluconate, a lower-energy substance the body can process, rather than dispensing a glucose-lowering drug, according to the Science study. The mice used roughly a fifth of the resulting gluconate for energy and excreted the rest through their kidneys, Scientific American reports.
For an automated test in mice, researchers connected the implant to a commercial continuous glucose monitor and a smartphone. When glucose exceeded a preset threshold, the system activated the catalyst, according to the study. That setup ran for two weeks without human involvement, Scientific American reports.
The team also circulated sugary fluid through a five-liter flask as a stand-in for human blood volume, Scientific American reports. That was not a test of the implant in a person. Luisa Torsi, a University of Bari Aldo Moro chemist not involved in the study, identified long-term tissue compatibility, sustained catalytic activity and safe, effective glucose removal at human scale as crucial next steps in Scientific American's report.
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