Opportunities and challenges for developing closed-loop bioelectronic medicines

The peripheral nervous system plays a major role in the maintenance of our physiology. Several peripheral nerves intimately regulate the state of the brain, spinal cord, and visceral systems. A new class of therapeutics, called bioelectronic medicines, are being developed to precisely regulate physiology and treat dysfunction using peripheral nerve stimulation. In this review, we first discuss new work using closed-loop bioelectronic medicine to treat upper limb paralysis. In contrast to open-loop bioelectronic medicines, closed-loop approaches trigger ‘on demand’ peripheral nerve stimulation due to a change in function (e.g., during an upper limb movement or a change in cardiopulmonary state). We also outline our perspective on timing rules for closed-loop bioelectronic stimulation, interface features for non-invasively stimulating peripheral nerves, and machine learning algorithms to recognize disease events for closed-loop stimulation control. Although there will be several challenges for this emerging field, we look forward to future bioelectronic medicines that can autonomously sense changes in the body, to provide closed-loop peripheral nerve stimulation and treat disease.