Electroceutical therapy reduces colitis severity in chronic bowel disease models, suggesting neuromodulation's potential in immunotherapy.
Targeted modulation of the splenic nerve offers a selective alternative to vagus nerve stimulation, avoiding off-target activation of mixed vagal fibers. However, the small diameter and anatomical complexity of splenic nerve pose great challenges for stable neural interfacing. Here, we report a splenic nerve wireless stimulator (SpNWS) built from stretchable and highly-conductive hydrogel for chronic electroceutical immunomodulation therapy. The hydrogel-fiber neural-electrodes conform to the geometries of splenic neurovascular bundles (SNVBs) and are secured using a bioadhesive approach, without inducing fibrosis or immune activation in SNVBs. SpNWS delivers wireless stimulation using subcutaneous-implanted hydrogel thin-film as battery-free powering electrodes with capacitive-coupling effect. In a chronic inflammatory bowel disease rat model, splenic nerve stimulation by SpNWS significantly reduced colitis severity and restored intestinal immune balance by suppressing TH1/TH17 responses and enhancing TH2/Treg activity. This work establishes a bioelectronic platform that combines material compliance, interface adaptability, and wireless power delivery to enable organ-specific neuromodulation for electroceutical treatment of refractory diseases.
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Liu et al. (2025) studied this question.
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