Implanted Fuel Cell Powered by Rat's Body Fluids
In a medical first, the device made electricity from inside a living animal.
Dubbed a glucose biofuel cell, the implant gets its juice from glucose—aka blood sugar—and oxygen, both of which are naturally present in the fluids between a body's cells.
In a recent study, researchers created a test version of their glucose biofuel cell and implanted it in a white lab rat named Ricky. The rat sported the device successfully for 11 days and suffered no ill effects.
Wires running from the fuel cell out of the rat's neck showed that the device was producing a significant amount of energy.
(Related: "Bio-Computer Created Inside Living Cell.")
The team hopes that their biofuel cell could one day provide safe, longer-lasting power to the next generation of medical implants, such as
