• Ablation therapy applied to stomach diso

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Monday, May 02, 2022 22:30:40
    Ablation therapy applied to stomach disorders

    Date:
    May 2, 2022
    Source:
    University of Auckland
    Summary:
    Researchers have shown that ablation therapy, often used to correct
    an abnormally beating heart, could be used to correct disorders
    of the stomach.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers from the Auckland Bioengineering Institute have shown that
    ablation therapy, often used to correct an abnormally beating heart,
    could be used to correct disorders of the stomach.


    ==========================================================================
    In normal circumstances the stomach is coordinated by underlying
    bioelectrical "slow wave" activity, which coordinates the contraction
    of the muscles that mix and move contents into and through the
    gastrointestinal (GI) tract. When these electrical slow waves don't
    work as they should, described as 'stomach dysrhythmias', it can lead to
    severe GI disorders and symptoms of nausea, vomiting, pain and bloating,
    and is often untreatable.

    When dysrhythmic activity occurs in the heart it results in irregular heartbeat, a condition called atrial fibrillation, which is often treated
    with ablation therapy, which involves the precise 'burning' of tissue
    to control the naturally occurring electricity in the heart. Dr Tim Angeli-Gordon and PhD student Zahra Aghababaie of the ABI have shown, in research that featured as the cover story on latest issue of the American Journal of Physiology, the technique could also be applied to control
    the naturally occurring bioelectrical "slow wave" activity in the stomach.

    Last year the team published the initial results of their research using ablation in the stomach, demonstrating that it was possible to use the technique to block the electrical activation of the stomach in localised regions. "The more recent paper builds on that foundational work and is an important advance because we have now shown that we can eliminate abnormal electrical activation with ablation, and also that the normal electrical activation of the stomach can be restored after ablation," says Dr Angeli- Gordon. "Although these studies were done in our pre-clinical lab, they demonstrate the powerful potential of ablation in the stomach which may
    now be able to be translated as a therapy for patients suffering from gastrointestinal disorders." Unusually, the research was illustrated on
    the cover of the journal by co- author of the paper, Zahra Aghababaie,
    who created the artwork from some of her histology (microscopic) images
    of the gastrointestinal system, which she captioned as "the Enchanted
    Forest of the gut-brain." "Within the human stomach, a great wild and
    vivid 'forest' exists working in harmony through sequences of organised contractions to extract the essential source of energy," she writes. "The coordination of this wonderful machinery is only possible thanks to an
    assembly of dedicated cells orchestrating the ballet of digestion.

    However, sometimes the harmony of this delicate system is disturbed with abnormal dysrhythmic activity." Zahra's artwork was initially created
    as a submission to the Art of BioEng, a competition that the ABI had
    held since 2015 to encourage the Institute's bioengineers to capture,
    through art, the world that new technologies have allowed us to see what
    is often beyond our imagination. "Biology imaging is both beautiful and enchanting," she says. "We are working in a cross- disciplinary field
    at the ABI -- engineering, biology, physics and so on. I think art can
    give us a moment of peace, a moment to stop, observe and appreciate. And perhaps remind us to do this more often in our everyday life and work,
    and in our case, our research."

    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Auckland. Note:
    Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Zahra Aghababaie, Leo K. Cheng, Niranchan Paskaranandavadivel, Recep
    Avci, Chih-Hsiang Alexander Chan, Ashton Matthee, Satya Amirapu,
    Samuel J. Asirvatham, Gianrico Farrugia, Arthur Beyder, Gregory
    O'Grady, Timothy R. Angeli-Gordon. Targeted ablation of gastric
    pacemaker sites to modulate patterns of bioelectrical slow wave
    activation and propagation in an anesthetized pig model. American
    Journal of Physiology- Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology,
    2022; 322 (4): G431 DOI: 10.1152/ ajpgi.00332.2021 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220502120503.htm

    --- up 9 weeks, 10 hours, 50 minutes
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)