Versatile Oral Insulin Delivery Nanosystems: From Materials to Nanostructures

Abstract

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by lack of insulin in the body leading to failure of blood glucose regulation. Diabetes patients usually need frequent insulin injections to maintain normal blood glucose levels, which is a painful administration manner. Long-term drug injection brings great physical and psychological burden to diabetic patients. In order to improve the adaptability of patients to use insulin and reduce the pain caused by injection, the development of oral insulin formulations is currently a hot and difficult topic in the field of medicine and pharmacy. Thus, oral insulin delivery is a promising and convenient administration method to relieve the patients. However, insulin as a peptide drug is prone to be degraded by digestive enzymes. In addition, insulin has strong hydrophilicity and large molecular weight and extremely low oral bioavailability. To solve these problems in clinical practice, the oral insulin delivery nanosystems were designed and constructed by rational combination of various nanomaterials and nanotechnology. Such oral nanosystems have the advantages of strong adaptability, small size, convenient processing, long-lasting pharmaceutical activity, and drug controlled-release, so it can effectively improve the oral bioavailability and efficacy of insulin. This review summarizes the basic principles and recent progress in oral delivery nanosystems for insulin, including physiological absorption barrier of oral insulin and the development of materials to nanostructures for oral insulin delivery nanosystems.

Synthesis of cellulose nanocrystals from spinach waste for insulin delivery: comparison to chitosan nanoparticles

“…The peak at 1240 cm À1 was attributed to the b- (1,4) glycosidic linkage. The peaks appearing at 827 cm À1 , 679 cm À1 , and 540 cm À1 are considered to be due to the C-O-C stretching of the glucose ring, C-O stretching, and vibration of the pyranose ring, respectively.…”

“…Nanoparticles can protect insulin from degradation in the gastrointestinal tract, leading to improved bioavailability and absorption. 1 Nanoparticles have the capability to be engineered for the purpose of insulin release triggered by fluctuations in glucose concentrations, thereby contributing to the mitigation of hypoglycemia incidence and enhancement of glucose regulation. 2 Nanoparticles can also be engineered to release insulin over an extended period to reduce the frequency of administration required.…”

Ionic Liquids: Momentous Tools in Transdermal Delivery of Biomacromolecules

“…The risk of infection and irritation from using the needle makes traditional injection delivery problematic. [127] Recently, a series of non-invasive drug delivery methods have been developed, including transdermal, [128][129][130] oral, [131][132][133][134] and implanted delivery systems, [129,[135][136][137] to improve patient compliance. Hydrophilicity and large molecular weights hinder the transdermal administration of medications; hence, numerous techniques, including iontophoresis, [138] ultrasound, [139] and laser, [140] have been utilized to overcome them.…”

pH-Responsive and Mucoadhesive Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oral Insulin Delivery: The Effect of Hyaluronic Acid with Different Molecular Weights

“…However, such a pathway may lead to poor patient compliance and hypoglycemia. Oral INS delivery, as a more convenient treatment for diabetes, has the characteristics of simulating physiological INS secretion while overcoming these difficulties [ 3 ].…”