Traditional topical ointment applied on the skin surface has poor drug penetration due to the thickening of the stratum corneum for psoriasis. Microneedles (MNs) provide a desirable opportunity to promote drug penetration. However, the common MNs are difficult to meet the requirement of on‐demand drug delivery. In this study, a smart electrical responsive MNs is fabricated by introducing conductive material of polypyrrole (PPy). Further, a self‐powered controllable transdermal drug delivery system (sc‐TDDS) based on piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) is developed. The sc‐TDDS can control drug release by collecting and converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. The sc‐TDDS can release 8.5 ng dexamethasone (Dex) subcutaneously per electrical stimulation. When treating psoriasis‐like skin disease with sc‐TDDS, the inflammatory skin returned to normal after 5 days, which is obviously better than treating with traditional Dex solution coating. This work provides a promising approach of on‐demand transdermal drug release for various disease treatment scenarios.
Neural tissue is an electrical responsible organ. The electricity plays a vital role in the growth and development of nerve tissue, as well as the repairing after diseases. The interface between the nervous system and external device for information transmission is called neural electroactive interface. With the development of new materials and fabrication technologies, more and more new types of neural interfaces are developed and the interfaces can play crucial roles in treating many debilitating diseases such as paralysis, blindness, deafness, epilepsy, and Parkinson's disease. Neural interfaces are developing toward flexibility, miniaturization, biocompatibility, and multifunctionality. This review presents the development of neural electrodes in terms of different materials for constructing electroactive neural interfaces, especially focus on the piezoelectric materials‐based indirect neuromodulation due to their features of wireless control, excellent effect, and good biocompatibility. We discussed the challenges we need to consider before the application of these new interfaces in clinical practice. The perspectives about future directions for developing more practical electroactive interface in neural engineering are also discussed in this review. This article is categorized under: Implantable Materials and Surgical Technologies > Nanomaterials and Implants Implantable Materials and Surgical Technologies > Nanotechnology in Tissue Repair and Replacement
The copper foil is taped to the side wall of a petri dish. Then warm LB agar liquid (10 g agar powder in 1 L medium, autoclaved) is poured into the dish and let consolidate to form agar plate. 50 µL of 1 × 10 6 CFU mL −1 S. aureus is added at the center of the agar plate and spread into a rectangular area with a cell spreader. The dish is moved under the plasma plume in a letter-writing route. Then the plates are incubated at 37 °C for 18 h after plasma treatment.
Diabetes treatment and rehabilitation are usually a lifetime process. Optogenetic engineered designer cell-therapy holds great promise in regulating blood glucose homeostasis. However, portable, sustainable, and long-term energy supplementation has previously presented a challenge for the use of optogenetic stimulation in vivo. Herein, we purpose a self-powered optogenetic system (SOS) for implantable blood glucose control. The SOS consists of a biocompatible far-red light (FRL) source, FRL-triggered transgene-expressing cells, a power management unit, and a flexible implantable piezoelectric nanogenerator (i-PENG) to supply long-term energy by converting biomechanical energy into electricity. Our results show that this system can harvest energy from body movement and power the FRL source, which then significantly enhanced production of a short variant of human glucagon-like peptide 1 (shGLP-1) in vitro and in vivo. Indeed, diabetic mice equipped with the SOS showed rapid restoration of blood glucose homeostasis, improved glucose, and insulin tolerance. Our results suggest that the SOS is sufficiently effective in self-powering the modulation of therapeutic outputs to control glucose homeostasis and, furthermore, present a new strategy for providing energy in optogenetic-based cell therapy.
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a common oral cancer of the head and neck, which causes tremendous physical and mental pain to people. Traditional chemotherapy usually results in drug resistance and side effects, affecting the therapy process. In this study, a self-powered electrical impulse chemotherapy (EIC) method based on a portable triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) was established for OSCC therapy. A common chemotherapeutic drug, doxorubicin (DOX), was used in the experiment. The TENG designed with zigzag structure had a small size of 6 cm × 6 cm, which could controllably generate the fixed output of 200 V, 400 V and 600 V. The electrical impulses generated by the TENG increased the cell endocytosis of DOX remarkably. Besides, a simply and ingeniously designed microneedle electrode increased the intensity of electric field (EF) between two adjacent microneedle tips compared with the most used planar interdigital electrode at the same height, which was more suitable for three-dimensional (3D) cells or tissues. Based on the TENG, microneedle electrode and DOX, the self-powered EIC system demonstrated a maximal apoptotic cell ratio of 22.47% and a minimum relative 3D multicellular tumor sphere (MCTS) volume of 160% with the drug dosage of 1 μg mL−1.
The reliable function in vivo of self‐powered implantable bioelectric devices (iBEDs) requires biocompatible, seamless, effective interactions with biological tissues. Herein, an implantable tissue‐adhesive piezoelectric soft sensor (TPSS), in which the piezoelectric sensor converts biomechanical signals into electrical signals, and the adhesive hydrogel (AH) strengthens this conversion by seamlessly adhering the sensor on the wet and curvilinear surface, is proposed. The optimized AH exhibits strong adhesion to various organic or inorganic surfaces, including six commonly used engineering materials and three biological tissues. As a pressure sensor, TPSS proves good in vitro electrical performance with a high output of 8.3 V, long‐term stability of over 6000 cycles, and high energy power density of 186.9 µW m−2. In a large animal experiment, TPSS seamlessly adheres to the right‐side internal carotid artery of a Yorkshire pig to monitor blood pressure during a surgical operation. Compared to commercial sensors that work by inserting into tissues, TPSS does not cause any damage and can be peeled off after service. The integration of adhesive hydrogel and self‐powered pressure sensors enables biocompatible, seamless, and more efficient interactions between the biological system and iBEDs, which also contributes to next‐generation implantable bioelectronics with features of battery‐free, intelligent, and accurate.
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