A self-powered intracardiac pacemaker in swine model

• Published in: Nature communications 2024-01, Vol.15 (1), p.507-507, Article 507
• Main Authors: Liu, Zhuo, Hu, Yiran, Qu, Xuecheng, Liu, Ying, Cheng, Sijing, Zhang, Zhengmin, Shan, Yizhu, Luo, Ruizeng, Weng, Sixian, Li, Hui, Niu, Hongxia, Gu, Min, Yao, Yan, Shi, Bojing, Wang, Ningning, Hua, Wei, Li, Zhou, Wang, Zhong Lin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 14/34; 147/135; 631/61; 639/166/985; 639/166/987; 639/301/1005/1007; 692/4019/2773; Animal models; Animals; Arrhythmia; Bioelectricity; Biomechanics; Cardiac arrhythmia; Electricity; Endocardium; Energy; Energy harvesting; Heart; Heart Ventricles; Humanities and Social Sciences; Medical devices; Medical equipment; Medical instruments; multidisciplinary; Open circuit voltage; Pacemaker, Artificial; Pacemakers; Power management; Power sources; Prostheses and Implants; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Short circuit currents; Short-circuit current; Swine; Ventricle
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44510-6

Harvesting biomechanical energy from cardiac motion is an attractive power source for implantable bioelectronic devices. Here, we report a battery-free, transcatheter, self-powered intracardiac pacemaker based on the coupled effect of triboelectrification and electrostatic induction for the treatment of arrhythmia in large animal models. We show that the capsule-shaped device (1.75 g, 1.52 cc) can be integrated with a delivery catheter for implanting in the right ventricle of a swine through the intravenous route, which effectively converts cardiac motion energy to electricity and maintains endocardial pacing function during the three-week follow-up period. We measure in vivo open circuit voltage and short circuit current of the self-powered intracardiac pacemaker of about 6.0 V and 0.2 μA, respectively. This approach exhibits up-to-date progress in self-powered medical devices and it may overcome the inherent energy shortcomings of implantable pacemakers and other bioelectronic devices for therapy and sensing. Harvesting biomechanical energy from cardiac motion is an attractive power source for implantable bioelectronic devices. Here, the authors report a battery-free, transcatheter, self-powered intracardiac pacemaker for the treatment of arrhythmia in large animal models.