A team of researchers led by Giovanni Traverso, associate professor at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston (USA), has designed a gastric balloon to promote weight loss, named OSIRIS. (Oscillating Satiety Induction and Regulation Intragastric System).
Unlike existing devices, OSIRIS can be inflated and deflated to more closely mimic the feeling of fullness at mealtime. The objective would be to prevent the stomach from adapting to the constant presence of an “extra” volume, which according to the researchers can reduce the effectiveness of classic gastric balloons over time. OSIRIS is currently being tested in animal models in a month-long study. The results were published in the magazine Device.
How the gastric balloon works
As already mentioned, the idea of the gastric balloon is not new in itself. It is a technology that is already in use, which naturally requires the supervision of a team of specialists and which is possibly designed to accompany a correct lifestyle. This is a temporary remedy: the gastric balloon, normally filled with air or saline, remains inside the stomach for four to six months. It is then removed by endoscopy or naturally through the digestive system (in the case of the most modern devices).
The new study
“Gastric balloons work initially. Historically, it has been seen that the balloon is associated with weight loss. But then, in general, weight gain resumes the same trajectory,” explains Traverso. “We thought that perhaps having a system that simulates satiety temporarily, that is, just before a meal, could be a way to induce weight loss.” With this goal in mind, the research authors designed the new device, which requires an abdominal incision to be inserted and is inflated and deflated through a small tube that connects it to a pump outside the body.
OSIRIS is currently being tested in three pigs: in rotation, for a total of three observations, one animal was the negative control (i.e., left without the device), one received the device that was never inflated, and another received the device that inflated and deflated before and after meals, respectively.
The results
The study authors fed each animal twice a day with a measured amount of food for 30 minutes. They then weighed the remaining food and thus obtained the amount actually consumed. The three observations showed that the pig with the inflated and deflated balloon before and after meals, respectively, ate about 60% less food than the other two.
OSIRIS will have to be further tested, among other things because the study lasted a total of one month: “The period of use of traditional gastric balloons is usually six months, if not more, and only then is good weight loss observed,” concludes Neil Zixun Jia, MIT researcher and first author of the study. “We will need to evaluate our device over a similar or longer term to show that it actually works better.”
Article originally published in WIRED Italy. Adapting by Andrea Baranenko.
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