Next-generation ingestible devices: sensing, locomotion and navigation

Smart capsules for sensing and sampling the gut: status, challenges and prospects

Smart capsules are developing at a tremendous pace with a promise to become effective clinical tools for the diagnosis and monitoring of gut health. This field emerged in the early 2000s with a successful translation of an endoscopic capsule from laboratory prototype to a commercially viable clinical device. Recently, this field has accelerated and expanded into various domains beyond imaging, including the measurement of gut physiological parameters such as temperature, pH, pressure and gas sensing, and the development of sampling devices for better insight into gut health. In this review, the status of smart capsules for sensing gut parameters is presented to provide a broad picture of these state-of-the-art devices while focusing on the technical and clinical challenges the devices need to overcome to realise their value in clinical settings. Smart capsules are developed to perform sensing operations throughout the length of the gut to better understand the body's response under various conditions. Furthermore, the prospects of such sensing devices are discussed that might help readers, especially health practitioners, to adapt to this inevitable transformation in healthcare. As a compliment to gut sensing smart capsules, significant amount of effort has been put into the development of robotic capsules to collect tissue biopsy and gut microbiota samples to perform in-depth analysis after capsule retrieval which will be a game changer for gut health diagnosis, and this advancement is also covered in this review. The expansion of smart capsules to robotic capsules for gut microbiota collection has opened new avenues for research with a great promise to revolutionise human health diagnosis, monitoring and intervention.

Rotational Platform for Real-Time Localization for Active Implantable Medical Devices

This paper presents a sensor based localization system to localize active implantable medical devices i.e., Wireless Capsule Endoscopy (WCE). The importance of localizing the capsule arises once the images from the capsule detect the abnormalities in the Gastrointestinal tract (GI). A successful system can determine the location that associated with the abnormality for further medical investigation or treatment. The system proposed in this paper comprises a rotational platform that consists of magnetic sensors to detect the position of the embedded magnet in the capsule. The rotational platform provides advantageousness in terms of reducing the number of the sensors and increasing the monitoring accuracy during the real time movement.

Experimental Research on a Capsule Robot with Spring-Connected Legs

Based on a previous study of a novel capsule robot (CR) with spring-connected legs that could collect intestinal juice for biopsy, in this research, an experiment system is designed, and two experiments are carried out. One of the experiments measures the torque and cutting force of this CR, and the other experiment tests and evaluates the biopsy function of this CR. In the measuring experiment, we analyze how the magnetic torque exerted on this CR changes. In the experiment with a biopsy, we decompose the biopsy actions and select the most effective biopsy action. The result of the experiments shows that this CR can collect and store biopsy samples ideally, and the most effective biopsy action is the rotation with legs extended.

Experimental investigations of the human oesophagus: anisotropic properties of the embalmed mucosa–submucosa layer under large deformation

Mechanical characterisation of the layer-specific, viscoelastic properties of the human oesophagus is crucial in furthering the development of devices emerging in the field, such as robotic endoscopic biopsy devices, as well as in enhancing the realism, and therefore effectiveness, of surgical simulations. In this study, the viscoelastic and stress-softening behaviour of the passive human oesophagus was investigated through ex vivo cyclic mechanical tests. Due to restrictions placed on the laboratory as a result of COVID-19, only oesophagi from cadavers fixed in formalin were allowed for testing. Three oesophagi in total were separated into their two main layers and the mucosa–submucosa layer was investigated. A series of uniaxial tensile tests were conducted in the form of increasing stretch level cyclic tests at two different strain rates: 1% s\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$^{-1}$$\end{document}-1 and 10% s\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$^{-1}$$\end{document}-1. Rectangular samples in both the longitudinal and circumferential directions were tested to observe any anisotropy. Histological analysis was also performed through a variety of staining methods. Overall, the longitudinal direction was found to be much stiffer than the circumferential direction. Stress-softening was observed in both directions, as well as permanent set and hysteresis. Strain rate-dependent behaviour was also apparent in the two directions, with an increase in strain rate resulting in an increase in stiffness. This strain rate dependency was more pronounced in the longitudinal direction than the circumferential direction. Finally, the results were discussed in regard to the histological content of the layer, and the behaviour was modelled and validated using a visco-hyperelastic matrix-fibre model.

Experimental investigations of the human oesophagus: anisotropic properties of the embalmed muscular layer under large deformation

The oesophagus is a primarily mechanical organ whose material characterisation would aid in the investigation of its pathophysiology, help in the field of tissue engineering, and improve surgical simulations and the design of medical devices. However, the layer-dependent, anisotropic properties of the organ have not been investigated using human tissue, particularly in regard to its viscoelastic and stress-softening behaviour. Restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic meant that fresh human tissue was not available for dissection. Therefore, in this study, the layer-specific material properties of the human oesophagus were investigated through ex vivo experimentation of the embalmed muscularis propria layer. For this, a series of uniaxial tension cyclic tests with increasing stretch levels were conducted at two different strain rates. The muscular layers from three different cadaveric specimens were tested in both the longitudinal and circumferential directions. The results displayed highly nonlinear and anisotropic behaviour, with both time- and history-dependent stress-softening. The longitudinal direction was found to be stiffer than the circumferential direction at both strain rates. Strain rate-dependent behaviour was apparent, with an increase in strain rate resulting in an increase in stiffness in both directions. Histological analysis was carried out via various staining methods; the results of which were discussed with regard to the experimentally observed stress-stretch response. Finally, the behaviour of the muscularis propria was simulated using a matrix-fibre model able to capture the various mechanical phenomena exhibited, the fibre orientation of which was driven by the histological findings of the study.

Research-Based Product Innovation to Address Critical Unmet Needs of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Despite progress in recent decades, patients with inflammatory bowel diseases face many critical unmet needs, demonstrating the limitations of available treatment options. Addressing these unmet needs will require interventions targeting multiple aspects of inflammatory bowel disease pathology, including disease drivers that are not targeted by available therapies. The vast majority of late-stage investigational therapies also focus primarily on a narrow range of fundamental mechanisms. Thus, there is a pressing need to advance to clinical stage differentiated investigational therapies directly targeting a broader range of key mechanistic drivers of inflammatory bowel diseases. In addition, innovations are critically needed to enable treatments to be tailored to the specific underlying abnormal biological pathways of patients; interventions with improved safety profiles; biomarkers to develop prognostic, predictive, and monitoring tests; novel devices for nonpharmacological approaches such as minimally invasive monitoring; and digital health technologies. To address these needs, the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation launched IBD Ventures, a venture philanthropy-funding mechanism, and IBD Innovate®, an innovative, product-focused scientific conference. This special IBD Innovate® supplement is a collection of articles reflecting the diverse and exciting research and development that is currently ongoing in the inflammatory bowel disease field to deliver innovative and differentiated products addressing critical unmet needs of patients. Here, we highlight the pipeline of new product opportunities currently advancing at the preclinical and early clinical development stages. We categorize and describe novel and differentiated potential product opportunities based on their potential to address the following critical unmet patient needs: (1) biomarkers for prognosis of disease course and prediction/monitoring of treatment response; (2) restoration of eubiosis; (3) restoration of barrier function and mucosal healing; (4) more effective and safer anti-inflammatories; (5) neuromodulatory and behavioral therapies; (6) management of disease complications; and (7) targeted drug delivery.