# Electronic Bypass for Diabetes

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $461,875

## Abstract

Diabetes affects more than 9% of Americans and costs over $245 billion in 2012 in USA. Recently bariatric
surgery, such as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy, has been proposed for treating diabetic
patients with obesity due to its hypoglycemic effect on postprandial blood glucose and significant weight loss.
 A novel method of intestinal electrical stimulation (IES) is proposed for the treatment of diabetes in this
application. In this method, IES is designed to alter gastrointestinal transit and hormones, including incretin
hormones, such as glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1). Our preliminary studies have demonstrated acceleration
of intestinal transit, an increase in postprandial GLP-1 and a reduction in blood glucose after oral glucose.
Chronically, the proposed IES has resulted in improvement in glycemic control and improvement in pancreatic
islets functions. According to these findings, we hypothesize that the acute hypoglycemic effect of IES in the
postprandial state is attributed to IES-induced enhancement in the release of GLP-1 and possibly other
hormones as well, such as ghrelin, and that the chronic hypoglycemic effect of IES in both fasting and fed
states is attributed to improvement in beta-cell functions, attributed to the prevention of the detrimental effects
of hyperglycemia and the ameliorating effect of IES-induced elevated GLP-1 on beta-cell functions.
 The project will be performed using advanced technologies (wireless stimulation and recording cages, and
autonomic and continuous food intake monitoring) that allow IES to be conducted in freely moving animals.
The best characterized animal model of spontaneous Type 2 diabetes, the Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rat will be used
to accomplish following specific aims: 1) To optimize IES parameters, develop on-demand IES and perform
closed-loop IES. First, we will systematically optimized stimulation parameters to maximize the hypoglycemic
effect of IES. Then we will develop an algorithm to automatically detect food intake and then trigger IES upon
food ingestion. It will be based on characteristics of intrinsic intestinal myoelectrical activity and artificial neural
network. The meal triggered IES will avoid excessive stimulation. Finally, a closed-loop IES method (each
stimulus is synchronized with intrinsic intestinal myoelectrical activity) will be developed to further increase the
efficacy of IES for diabetes. 2) To study the hypoglycemic mechanisms of acute IES involving incretin
hormones, such as GLP-1, and ghrelin, and the intestinal transit mechanisms involved in the IES-induced
elevation of insulin-stimulating gastrointestinal hormones. 3) To explore cellular mechanisms of chronic IES on
long-term glycemic control. Chronic IES will be performed to investigate long-term hypoglycemic effects of IES
in both fasting and fed states, and mechanisms involving pancreatic islets functions, beta-cell apoptosis and
proliferation, and a number of transcription factors involved in the...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10138397
- **Project number:** 7R01DK107754-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Jiande Chen
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $461,875
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2018-07-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10138397

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10138397, Electronic Bypass for Diabetes (7R01DK107754-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10138397. Licensed CC0.

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