{"id":191471,"date":"2024-12-09T14:03:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T14:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/09\/a-squid-inspired-medical-device-could-reduce-the-need-for-needles\/"},"modified":"2024-12-09T14:03:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T14:03:31","slug":"a-squid-inspired-medical-device-could-reduce-the-need-for-needles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/09\/a-squid-inspired-medical-device-could-reduce-the-need-for-needles\/","title":{"rendered":"A squid-inspired medical device could reduce the need for needles"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><\/div> \r\n<br><br><div data-component=\"video-embed\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re one of the many adults who hate needles, you may be in luck. Scientists have taken inspiration from squids\u2019 high pressure liquid jets and developed a needle-free device to inject drugs into organs deep within the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNeedles require specialized training to administer, present challenges with safe disposal and carry the risk of needle-stick injuries, whether used externally or for deeper, internal applications,\u201d says Giovanni Traverso, a translational engineering researcher at MIT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To avoid needles\u2019 risks and challenges, Traverso and colleagues designed a microjet device that uses pressure to push drugs such as insulin into a variety of organs. Much like the contractions that squids use to pressurize and propel liquid through their funnel-like siphons, this device <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-024-08202-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">can precisely direct liquid in different directions<\/a> depending on the specific target, the team reports November 20 in <em>Nature<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"sn-conversion rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar\">\n<style><![CDATA[\n.email-conversion {\n  border: 1px solid #ffcccb;\n  color: white;\n  margin-top: 50px;\n  background-image: url(\"\/wp-content\/themes\/sciencenews\/client\/src\/images\/cta-module@2x.jpg\");\n  padding: 20px;\n  clear: both;\n}\n\n]]><\/style>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"rich-text embedded-conversion-content is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<style><![CDATA[\n#dynamic-wrapper {\n  border: 1px solid #ffcccb;\n  background-image: url(\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/cta_background_aurora.jpg\");\n  background-size: cover;\n  background-position: center center;\n  padding: 20px;\n  clear: both;\n}\n\n#dynamic-conversion {\n  padding: 20px;\n  background:rgba(0,0,0, 0.5);\n  color: white;\n}\n\n#dynamic-conversion h2 {\n  color: white;\n}\n\np.has-text-align-center a {\n  color: white !important;\n  text-decoration: none;\n  font-weight: bold;\n}\n\n]]><\/style>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"dynamic-wrapper\" class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div id=\"dynamic-conversion\" class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong>Have feedback for Science News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Help us improve by telling us about your experience<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/aside>\n\n\n<p>Getting close enough to vital organs requires the microjet to be attached to either a tethered or free-floating device inside of a capsule that travels through the gastrointestinal tract. Other teams have been developing ingestible devices to deliver drugs in the body, but many of them <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/pills-needles-injection-medication\">still rely on needles<\/a> (<em>SN: 2\/7\/19<\/em>). Combining these tiny robotics with microjets offers a safer alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne of the most challenging aspects was optimizing the balance between jet force and safety,\u201d Traverso says. The team used a capsule around the microjet that dissolves at a certain pH and allows the microjet to precisely target certain parts of the body where the equivalent pH occurs. They successfully injected drugs into the stomach, colon, esophagus and other organs by adjusting the pressure of the jet \u2014 depending on the delicacy and thickness of the tissue \u2014 and letting gravity do the rest. When testing the device on pigs and dogs, the team found no safety issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is the first study demonstrating the use of microjets for delivery of drugs into the gastrointestinal tract,\u201d says Samir Mitragotri, a drug delivery researcher at Harvard University who was not involved in the research. \u201cAll in all, this is a very creative design.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While these microjets show promise, they have a long way to go before getting into humans. Future studies will probably investigate how these devices could target specific types of tissues, such as tumors or fibroses. Researchers will also need to ensure that repeated microjet injections to the same site cause no safety problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until then, the needle-fearing among us will need to continue our deep-breathing and distraction techniques when we go to the doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n<br>\r\n<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/squid-inspired-medical-device-needles\">Source link <\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re one of the many adults who hate needles, you may be in luck. Scientists have taken inspiration from squids\u2019 high pressure liquid jets and developed a needle-free device to inject drugs into organs deep within the body. \u201cNeedles require specialized training to administer, present challenges with safe disposal and carry the risk of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/112624_nb_squid-inspired-siphon_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[606],"tags":[16310,1267,150046,10163,150045],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191473,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191471\/revisions\/191473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}