Gastric stimulation research. Pig being used in research into stimulation of stomach nerves. A team led by neurophysiologist Charles Henri Malbert, at the INRA laboratory in Rennes, France, are developing a technique to fool the brain into thinking the stomach is full. This technique is to electrically stimulate the nerve that connects the stomach to the brain. The technique is intended as an alternative to using a gastric band in the morbidly obese. Here, a pig is being prepared for an operation to implant the stimulating device.