The battle with obesity is now set to go digital, with the development of tiny brain chips that could alter the activity of the brain area involved in experiencing pleasure from food. The chip, called a responsive neurostimulation system (RNS), recently showed success in a trial using mice and is now about to go into a clinical trial involving six humans with morbid obesity.
The current study recorded electrical activity from a brain region called the nucleus accumbens, in mice as well as one human with uncontrollable obsessive-compulsive disorder, all of whom were anticipating an immediate powerful reward (high-fat food and financial reward, respectively).
