Ultrasound can regulate inflammatory response.

Ultrasound can regulate inflammatory response

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

March 12, 2019 -- Bioelectronic research teams from GE Research in Niskayuna, NY, and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, NY, have demonstrated noninvasive methods to regulate dysfunction in the body's metabolic or inflammatory control systems using ultrasound, according to a study published online March 12 in Nature Communications.

Bioelectronic medicine is a combination of neuroscience, molecular biology, and bioengineering that researchers hope will be able to treat disease and injury in the nervous system without pharmaceuticals, the institute said. A team led by study co-author Chris Puleo, PhD, of GE Research, found that using ultrasound in targeted ways reduced inflammatory markers and altered metabolism.

"In our studies, we show that applying ultrasound to a specific target in the spleen altered inflammatory markers that can cause arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and other ailments," Puleo said in a statement released by the institute. "And when targeting a specific part of the liver, we were able to modulate blood glucose levels."

The researchers plan to conduct more preclinical studies to understand the use of ultrasound in this way, they said.