Abstract

Advanced drug delivery systems – such as biodegradable injectable formulations – can enhance treatment results by improving the effectiveness of therapy, reducing toxicity, and boosting patient adherence ^[1]. However, many of these drug delivery strategies still release drugs too rapidly, reducing therapeutic longevity; furthermore, many current strategies are not compatible with emerging biologic drugs ^[1]. Therefore, new drug delivery vehicles that allow precise control over drug release, including hydrophilic or biologic-based drugs, are needed.

Researchers at McMaster have developed an ultrasound-triggered cork-shell capsule/particle drug delivery system that can control the release kinetics of therapeutic drugs without causing cellular damage. This capsule is composed of a complex shell component that holds the therapeutic payload and incorporates “cork” particles that can be designed to either vibrate or pop out in response to ultrasound. This creates dynamic pores in the shell (reversibly or non-reversibly) that allow for the therapeutic payload to be released in a tunable and controlled manner.

Applications

Controlled release of:

• Small molecule drugs
• Hydrophilic drugs
• Biologics
• Imaging agents (e.g. in medical imaging, molecular diagnostics or biosensing)

Advantages

• On-demand control of payload release kinetics
• Composed of generic, FDA-approved materials
• Can deliver multiple types of payloads at once
• Well-suited for delivery of expensive or dangerous therapeutics, such as chemotherapy drugs, or proteins

References

1. Gao, J., Karp, J. M., Langer, R., & Joshi, N. (2023). The future of drug delivery. Chemistry of Materials, 35(2), 359-363.

Image obtained from: Dorogin, J. (2019). FABRICATION OF CORK-SHELL MICROCAPSULES FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS WITH FOCUS ON ULTRASOUND TRIGGERED RELEASE.