Ultrasound stimulation of spleen could lead to new treatments for inflammatory arthritis
Graph showing less inflammation for mice receiving ultrasound treatments
At Day 7 of the study, mice that were treated with the ultrasound stimulation of the spleen showed significantly less joint swelling compared to arthritic mice that were part of what are called “sham treatments” where the researchers go through all the same motions without actually administering the treatment. Image credits: Zachs, Lim, Binstadt, et al., University of Minnesota.

March 14, 2019 — Research from the University of Minnesota and Medtronic has shown that noninvasive daily ultrasound stimulation of the spleen in mice with inflammatory arthritis resulted in significantly less joint swelling compared to arthritic mice that were not treated. 

The research — published in Nature Communications — is a first step to developing new treatment options for more than a million Americans who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. The study has resulted in a University of Minnesota-led preliminary human clinical trial.

The research team included Professor Hubert Lim (senior author) and several members from his lab, called the SONIC (Sensory Optimization and Neural Implant Coding) Lab: Daniel Zachs (first author), Claire Kaiser, Abigail Heiller, and Hongsun Guo.

Read the news release

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