Gastrointestinal capsule and Method for mechanically stimulating a wall of a segment of the mammalian gastrointestinal tract

摘要

GASTROINTESTINAL CAPSULE AND METHOD FOR MECHANICALLY STIMULATING A WALL OF A SEGMENT OF MAMMALIAN GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT.An ingestible gastrointestinal capsule (CGI) to mechanically stimulate a segment of the gastrointestinal wall (GI) by alternately pressing and / or vibrating it . The CGI is programmed to activate following a preset time delay. Activated CGI shakes, rattles, bumps, beats, vibrates and / or moves in a reciprocal expansion and contraction motion thereby mechanically stimulating the adjacent segment of the GI wall at a desired location. CGI activation may include a number of partial activations performed automatically, such as when the time elapsed from the time of CGI preparation equals a predefined time delay; when the mechanical load applied to the CGI exceeds and / or is lower than a predefined mechanical load level; when the ambient ph reaches a preset level, or changes, and / or a temperature associated with the user reaches a preset limit. Stirring is performed by means of stirring means embedded in the CGI. Such agitation means includes an unbalanced weight attached to the shaft of an electric motor, an actuator implemented by, such as an electric solenoid, an electroactive polymer (EAP), a dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA), embedded in a CGI of the invention.