Researchers at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research — the global
scientific home of bioelectronic medicine — discovered that a small cluster
of neurons within the brain is responsible for controlling the body’s immune
response and the release of cytokines, which leads to inflammation in the
body. This discovery, published yesterday in Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), adds to the
growing body of research in the field of bioelectronic medicine and, more
specifically, how the brain regulates the body’s immune response.
Bioelectronic medicine is the scientific field exploring the use of
electronic devices to treat diseases and injury instead of drugs while
reducing significant side effects associated with drugs. The goal of
bioelectronic medicine is to identify neural targets that can be selectively
activated or inhibited when needed; that in turn, control the function of
specific organs.
One area of study is how the vagus nerve, the longest nerve in the body that
controls the physiology of organs like the heart, the intestines, and the
liver, can be targeted to treat conditions like heart failure, hypertension,
rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Once neural targets are identified,
scientists and engineers can build bioelectronic devices to modulate the
activity of that neural target.
This new research, led by Sangeeta S. Chavan, PhD, professor at the
Feinstein Institutes, reveals a population of neurons in the brainstem
dorsal motor nucleus (DMN) of the vagus are responsible for communicating
cytokine-inhibiting signals to the splenic nerve. By controlling these
neural signals through selective stimulation, researchers can turn off
cytokines and other proteins that affect the body’s immune response, which
accounts for many inflammatory diseases and autoimmune disorders.
“Think of the vagus nerve as the body’s main highway that helps control the
immune system. Sometimes, you can’t slow it down which causes
over-inflammation and disease,” said Dr. Chavan. “With this discovery, we
are pleased to note that we can target different neural sites such as the
brain, the splenic nerve and the vagus nerve, using bioelectronic devices to
control inflammation and treat illness without pharmaceuticals.”
Neural signals are sent through vagus nerve fibers in an afferent (toward
the brain) or efferent (away from the brain, toward peripheral organs)
direction. To identify the vagus fiber subsets and the brain regions, Dr.
Chavan and Adam Kressel, MD, a graduate student in Dr. Chavan’s lab, used a
combination of anatomical and functional mapping with direct assessment of
the immune response. Using bioelectronic devices, specifically laser light
to activate neurons as well as microcuff electrodes to record neural
activity, their research showed that selective activation of a subset of
vagus nerve fibers stemming from the brain are able to control the immune
system response to inflammation.
“Dr. Chavan’s research helps us connect the activity between the brain, the
vagus nerve and other organs, giving us a better understanding of the source
that controls inflammation,” said Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president and CEO of
the Feinstein Institutes. “We will continue to make progress in the field of
bioelectronic medicine so that the most devastating diseases can be treated
more effectively, and without the use of drugs.”
Reference:
Kressel AM, Tsaava T, Levine YA, et al. Identification of a brainstem locus
that inhibits tumor necrosis factor. PNAS. Published online November 9,
2020. doi:
10.1073/pnas.2008213117
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