A Nervous System-Based Skin-Gastrointestinal Communication System for Biomedical Applications

In recent years, gastrointestinal (GI) health has attracted growing interest due to its critical role in digestion, absorption, and neural regulation, often being referred to as the “second brain.” However, existing capsule-based systems for GI monitoring primarily rely on wireless or Bluetooth communication, which suffers from signal attenuation caused by tissue interference, as well as issues like electromagnetic noise and high power consumption. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes a skin-GI communication system that leverages the human nervous system as a transmission medium. The system employs transcutaneous electrical acustimulation (TEA) to activate cutaneous sensory receptors, triggering action potentials that propagate through peripheral neurons, the spinal cord, and parasympathetic pathways. These neural signals modulate the contraction rhythm of GI smooth muscle, producing strainbased physiological responses that can be sensed and decoded by an implanted device within the GI tract. This work presents the system framework, formulates its communication model, and evaluates its performance through theoretical analysis and simulation. This research not only introduces a novel humanintegrated communication paradigm, but also demonstrates its potential for practical applications, including real-time ingestion monitoring, smart drug delivery, and disease management.