Nearly 30 million patients in the United States suffer from either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Hypoglycemia is a common and potentially life-threatening side effect of diabetes treatment. A diabetic patient’s progressive loss of hypoglycemic awareness impairs recognition of the early signs of low blood sugar, increasing the severity of acute complications and the need for hospitalization. A closed-loop implantable drug delivery system (IDDS) that precisely releases anti-hypoglycemic drugs in response to low blood glucose levels, and is small enough to be implanted with minimal invasiveness, could substantially improve hypoglycemia management. The goal of this project is to develop novel technologies to make such an IDDS a reality. The IDDS is wirelessly powered using ultrasound which enables miniaturization of the implants for minimal invasiveness and safe operation in the body. The IDDS utilizes electro-responsive polypyrrole nanoparticles to store the required drugs. Polypyrrole is a conductive polymer. A charged drug is incorporated as the counterion to the polypyrrole nanoparticles. This drug is then released on-demand through reduction of the polypyrrole. Aggregation of the nanoparticles into a nanoparticulate film ensures electrical conduction to the electrode, while the high surface area of the nanoparticulate film allows for storage and release of drugs on a biologically relevant scale.

On-demand drug release from polypyrrole nanoparticulate films

2019 Fall National Meeting

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