Safe and sustainable pain treatment by cooling peripheral nerves
Cooling the nerves numbs sensation, and, by extension, pain: an international team at Pusan National University in South Korea have developed an implant that dulls neuropathic pain by cooling peripheral nerves. The sort, bioresorbable implants showed great potential in animal experiments and could be substituted for opioids as a non-addictive treatment for pain.
Pain relief as a result of cooling peripheral nerves is also a reversible process which works by reducing the velocity and amplitude of neural signals that cause pain, not by altering or blocking pain signals completely.
The implantable device, designed by Professor Min-Ho Seo, from the School of Biomedical Convergence Engineering, and colleagues, is made of a microfluidics system formed with a bioresorbable material – with interconnects carrying a liquid coolant (PFP/N2) to a serpentine chamber. A magnesium temperature sensor for real-time temperature monitoring was incorporated at the farther end of the device.
The team tested the device by implanting it into the sciatic nerves of living rat models with neuropathic pain associated with spared nerve injury. The delivery of the cooling power occurred in a minimally invasive, stable, and precise manner that minimised the animals’ pain. The cooling effect was localised and reversible, and remained effective for almost 15 minutes during one session.
Moreover, the device dissolved in 20 days after being submerged in a phosphate-buffered saline solution at 75°C, and was completely eliminated in 50 days. The findings of this additional experiment suggests that the device could naturally degrade and be resorbed in the human body.
“The developed device can be used to treat pain after surgery. Since it is connected to an external source of fluid and power like a commercial intravenous (IV) device, it can easily be controlled by the patient,” said Prof. Seo. “This way, our implantable device will be able to provide targeted and individualised relief without the drawbacks of the addictive pain medications.”
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