Light technology could soon be used to treat chronic constipation

Millions of people around the world turn to natural or pharmaceutical laxatives to deal with constipation, but researchers have discovered an alternative that could be used to treat people with the annoying and often chronic condition.

A study has found a novel light therapy that could be used as an alternative to prescription drugs to treat not only constipation, but other intestinal disorders. The alternative, which discovered by Flinders University and Washington University and published in the Gastroenterology Journal, is being described as a “significant technical breakthrough” and could be a less toxic way of treating gastrointestinal conditions.

Flinders University Professor Nick Spencer said use of the light could treat chronic conditions without side effects. Some common side effects of laxatives are stomach pain or cramps, abdominal bloating and gassiness, and users also run the risk of becoming dependent on them if they’re used over the long term.

“The ability to selectively stimulate transit along the gut in live mammals using light to stimulate specific regions of the gut could avoid the use of non-specific prescription drugs which can induce a long list of unpleasant side effects,” Spencer said.

“The most exciting aspect is that this optogenetic technology using light has already has been shown to work in targeting cells in other organs without breeding genetically modified animals, so this signals this approach could be applied one day to humans.”

Researchers found the new light technique improved transit along the bowel after gut lining nerves were stimulated with the pulses of blue light. Teams from both Australia and the US have already tested the treatment on mice and have had positive results.

Read more: Natural remedies for constipation

Wireless-controlled miniature LEDs were installed into the gut wall of mice and researchers found muscle cells were able to contract and expel the gut contents when blue light was illuminated onto the gut wall. Dr Hongzhen Hu, who co-led the study with Spencer, said light-stimulated cells could activate an immediate response in the muscles, meaning that they’d quickly cause someone to go to the toilet.

“Our studies showed the use of light-sensitive channels inserted into the bowel respond positively and stimulates light-sensitive ion channels in the enteric nervous system,” he said in a statement.

The research used naturally occurring light-gated ion channels known as ChR2, typically extracted from algae and other light-sensitive ion channels. 

Similar research is also being conducted for other health conditions including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

What do you think? Would you use this kind of treatment for constipation if it were available? What measures do you take to treat the condition?