In vivo optical induction of INaL by photoactivation of AaH-II peptide in beating heart using wireless implantable device

Wireless, battery-free implantation enabled in vivo photoactivation of the late sodium current–enhancing peptide AaH-II* in a beating heart, producing clear ECG-detected electrical modulation.

• Why it matters: Systemic drug delivery cannot match the localized, transient control needed for cardiac events, and translating photopharmacology to a moving, soft, electrically active organ requires wireless light delivery.
• What they did: The team validated a caged AaH-II peptide in vitro and ex vivo, showing caging suppresses activity and UV illumination rapidly restores it, then used a flexible implantable optoelectronic device for in vivo wireless photoactivation.
• The result: In vivo wireless photoactivation modulated cardiac electrical activity measured by electrocardiography, supporting device-based peptide photomodulation for remote, temporally controlled cardiac intervention.