peristalsis
Nanojuice: Getting a Real-Time View of GI Motility
Posted on by Dr. Francis Collins
Caption: A real-time image of nanojuice as it passes through a mouse’s small intestine. A laser causes particles in the nanojuice to vibrate, creating vibrations picked up by an ultrasound detector that are then used to generate a black-and-white image. Rainbow colors are added afterward to reflect the depth of the intestine within the mouse’s abdomen: blue is closest to the surface and red is deepest.
Credit: Jonathan Lovell, University at Buffalo
For those of you who love to try new juices, you’ve probably checked out acai, goji berry, and maybe even cold-pressed kale. But have you heard of nanojuice? While it’s not a new kind of health food, this scientific invention may someday help to improve human health through its power to visualize the action of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract in real-time.
It’s true that doctors already have many imaging tools at their disposal to examine various parts of the GI tract—all the way from throat to colon. These include invasive techniques, such as upper endoscopy and colonoscopy; as well as non-invasive approaches, such as ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, and X-ray procedures that may or may not involve swallowing a chalky liquid containing barium or other materials that are radio-opaque. There’s even a wireless capsule that can shoot videos as it travels all the way through the GI tract. None of these techniques, however, provides a non-invasive, real-time view of the wave-like muscle contractions that move food through the gut—a crucial process called peristalsis.
