iNODE in-vivo testing for selective vagus nerve recording and stimulation

Abstract

Hypertension is a wide spread disease and despite pharmacological treatment some patients cannot obtain any relief from medication. In previous work, we could show that blood pressure can be reduced by Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) almost free from side effects. In this work, we focus on the implementation of a miniaturized system using a modified embedded sensor/actuator device iNODE for vagus nerve recording and stimulation. The results illustrate that this device, using a 3.3 V power supply, 58.9 mW while stimulating, 7.8 mW while recording, is capable of reducing the blood pressure, showing equivalent results to major laboratory equipment.