Gastrointestinal devices such as stents, endoscopic tubes; balloons and drug delivery systems can help clinicians treat patients with a range of conditions. But currently available methods for triggering where and when drugs are release or when a device is trigger to disassemble or change shape are often slow; which can restrict the utility of such tools. Because Investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and MIT are designing devices that can be trigger by the ingestion of a warm liquid to break down into smaller segments that is excrete.
Drug delivery systems
In proof-of-concept experiments in preclinical models; the team test two devices one that could be induce to change conformation in the esophagus to exit following the delivery of a drug; and the other that could reside unperturbe in the stomach until intentionally trigger. The team’s results are publish in Science Translational Medicine.
“We are intrigue by a simple question: when you ingest a hot liquid; what happens as it travels down your esophagus and into the stomach ” said co corresponding author C. Giovanni Traverso; MB, BChir, Ph.D., a gastroenterologist and biomedical engineer in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Brigham.
Preclinical models
“What we’ve found is that there are essentially two zones the esophageal and the gastric which means that we may be able to control and trigger gastrointestinal devices in these two regions with precision using warm water.” The first device the team test is inspired by a blooming flower. This capsule-size esophageal system with petal-like structures can close up like a bud when a warm fluid is ingest.
The prototype, which was tested in pigs; unfurled in the esophagus, making contact with the esophageal wall and releasing milli-needles loaded with model drugs. When warm water is administer; therefore the prototype fully close and pass from the esophagus into the stomach.
The second device tested was a highly flexible; gastric resident device capable of releasing drug of extend a device intended to stay in the stomach and release a regular dosage of a drug for weeks. Because Ingesting a warm liquid did not disturb the functioning of the device; but directly spraying warm ; therefore water into the stomach with the aid of endoscope help break down the device into pieces that could safely pass through the gastrointestinal tract in the pig model.
Gastrointestinal tract
Investigators tested two prototype devices in a porcine model: a temperature-triggerable flower-like system for esophageal drug delivery and a temperature-triggerable flexible mechanical metamaterial as a macro-device dosage form for long-term GI drug delivery. Credit: Sahab Babaee and Simo Pajovic; MIT/Brigham and Women’s Hospital Temperature-triggerable flexible mechanical metamaterial as a macro-device dosage form for long-term GI drug delivery. Credit: Sahab Babaee and Simo Pajovic; MIT/Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Investigators tested two prototype devices in a porcine model:a temperature-triggerable flower-like system for esophageal drug delivery and a temperature-triggerable flexible mechanical metamaterial as a macro device dosage form for long-term GI drug delivery. Credit: Sahab Babaee and Simo Pajovic; MIT/Brigham and Women’s Hospital Temperature triggerable flexible mechanical metamaterial as a macro-device dosage form for long-term GI drug delivery. Credit: Sahab Babaee and Simo Pajovic; MIT/Brigham and Women’s Hospital.