Ionic Hydrogel for Accelerated Dopamine Delivery via Retrodialysis

Abstract

Local drug delivery directly to the source of a given pathology using retrodialysis is a promising approach to treating otherwise untreatable diseases. As the primary material component in retrodialysis, the semipermeable membrane represents a critical point for innovation. This work presents a new ionic hydrogel based on polyethylene glycol and acrylate with dopamine counterions. The ionic hydrogel membrane is shown to be a promising material for controlled diffusive delivery of dopamine. The ionic nature of the membrane accelerates uptake of cationic species compared to a nonionic membrane of otherwise similar composition. It is demonstrated that the increased uptake of cations can be exploited to confer an accelerated transport of cationic species between reservoirs as is desired in retrodialysis applications. This effect is shown to enable nearly 10-fold increases in drug delivery rates from low concentration solutions. The processability of the membrane is found to allow for integration with microfabricated devices which will in turn accelerate adaptation into both existing and emerging device modalities. It is anticipated that a similar materials design approach may be broadly applied to a variety of cationic and anionic compounds for drug delivery applications ranging from neurological disorders to cancer.

PEDOT:PSS‐Based Bioelectronic Devices for Recording and Modulation of Electrophysiological and Biochemical Cell Signals

“…(e.g., dopamine, [179] glutamate, [180] g-aminobutyric acid (GABA), [181,182] salicylic acid, [172] and acetylcholine [183] ) [30,105] (Figure 8b,c). Single SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells were stimulated by OEIP via regulating the concentration of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh).…”

Reducing Passive Drug Diffusion from Electrophoretic Drug Delivery Devices through Co‐Ion Engineering

“…For reference, dashed lines indicate values for D drug of commonly used compounds GABA, ACh, dopamine, and paclitaxel, a notably larger charged drug that may be possible to deliver in the future with further advancements in the development of IEMs for electrophoresis. [ 12,14,54 ] The contour plot shows the remarkable contrast in the effects of D drug and D co on drug leakage rate persist across the spectrum of relevant diffusion coefficient values; whereas a decreasing D drug by a factor of 100 may have a negligible effect on steady‐state drug leakage rate, the equivalent reduction in D co could reduce the leakage rate fivefold. As illustrative examples, for GABA, ACh, dopamine, and paclitaxel, the steady‐state drug leakage rate when paired the same co‐ion are nearly identical for D co ranging from 1 to 10 −2 D Cl .…”

Organic Bioelectronics: From Functional Materials to Next‐Generation Devices and Power Sources

“…[90] For each electronic charge that goes through the external circuit, one ionic charge (i.e., a drug) is driven through the membrane. OEIPs enable the voltage-controlled delivery of small metal cations, neurotransmitters (glutamate, [107] aspartate, [107] salicylic acid, [108] γ-amino butyric acid-GABA, [92,93,109] acetylcholine, [93,96,107,109] dopamine [110] ) and hormones (abscisic acid) [111] to induce neural activity, that can suppress epileptiform activity, treat pain-causing neurons locally, and even regulate the physiology of plants. Thanks to the large volumetric capacitance of PEDOT:PSS and the processability of their associated components, OEIPs can be made in microscale configurations.…”