MIT engineers have developed a noninvasive pacemaker in the form of a small ultrasound-emitting sticker that can regulate heart rhythm without surgery. This device stimulates the heart through ultrasound pulses aimed at genetically engineered cardiac cells, potentially offering a safer alternative to traditional implanted pacemakers.
What happened
The research team created a wearable sticker about the size of a postage stamp containing tiny ultrasound transducers that transmit pulses through the chest to trigger heart contractions. To enhance the heart’s responsiveness to ultrasound, the researchers used genetic engineering to produce ion channels in heart cells that open in response to ultrasound waves, allowing calcium influx that prompts cell contraction.
Laboratory experiments demonstrated that ultrasound pulses effectively maintained regular beating in engineered human cardiac cells. In animal tests, the sticker rapidly and safely corrected arrhythmias in rats, restoring normal heart rhythm noninvasively. The team’s prototype integrates the ultrasound sticker with a small battery-powered device for portable use.
The researchers plan to combine this sticker with ultrasound imaging technology to enable simultaneous heart monitoring and stimulation in a single wearable device.
Why it matters
Approximately three million adults in the United States live with implanted pacemakers, devices that involve surgical implantation and carry associated risks and potential complications. A noninvasive alternative that regulates heart rhythm without direct cardiac contact could reduce these risks and improve patient comfort.
The ultrasound pacemaker sticker utilizes gene therapy to enhance heart cells’ sensitivity to ultrasound, a method already approved by the FDA for certain inherited diseases, suggesting clinical feasibility. Such noninvasive heart stimulation could transform cardiac care by simplifying device application and reducing surgical interventions.
Background
Conventional pacemakers deliver electrical pulses via surgically implanted leads connected to the heart. While effective, they involve invasive procedures and potential hardware failures. Ultrasound penetrates body tissues safely and can stimulate cells, but prior attempts to use ultrasound to pace the heart have been limited by weak effects.
Sonogenetics—a technique adapting similar principles from optogenetics—involves genetically modifying cells to respond to ultrasound. This innovation allowed the MIT team to amplify ultrasound’s effect on heart cells, enabling effective noninvasive pacing demonstrated in animals.
The research was conducted in collaboration with the University of Southern California, Harvard University, and the University of California, Los Angeles, and published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
Sources
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