• autonomic nervous system
• bioelectronics
• bursting activity
• metabolism disorders
• spectral analysis

Understanding the interplay between autonomic nervous system and metabolism is a key step for the development of electronic medicine. This work deals with the involvement of the carotid body (CB) in metabolic dysfunction and in particular its role in the pathogenesis of Diabetes Mellitus. The overall aim is to extract features from neural recordings of the carotid sinus nerve to provide information about glucose levels in the blood. Extracted neural features allow to distinguish control from pre-diabetic rat recordings and they are able to evaluate the different response after the administration of glucose or insulin bolus. The characterization of the neural activity is provided using data analysis techniques not yet adopted in the field of the Autonomic Nervous System (ASN). Both spectral and bursts analysis show a significant modulation of the ASN induced by the metabolic administration. The role of the carotid body is evaluated by resecting the Carotid Sinus Nerve to suppress the CB activity and to its neuromodulation in order to recover the correct physiological function. This study introduces the innovative branch of Bioelectronics, Electroceuticals, which employs the electrical stimulation of the Autonomic Nervous System as a valid alternative to the pharmacological treatment.