Wirelessly controlled, bioresorbable drug delivery device with active valves that exploit electrochemically triggered crevice corrosion

Abstract

Implantable drug release platforms that offer wirelessly programmable control over pharmacokinetics have potential in advanced treatment protocols for hormone imbalances, malignant cancers, diabetic conditions, and others. We present a system with this type of functionality in which the constituent materials undergo complete bioresorption to eliminate device load from the patient after completing the final stage of the release process. Here, bioresorbable polyanhydride reservoirs store drugs in defined reservoirs without leakage until wirelessly triggered valve structures open to allow release. These valves operate through an electrochemical mechanism of geometrically accelerated corrosion induced by passage of electrical current from a wireless, bioresorbable power-harvesting unit. Evaluations in cell cultures demonstrate the efficacy of this technology for the treatment of cancerous tissues by release of the drug doxorubicin. Complete in vivo studies of platforms with multiple, independently controlled release events in live-animal models illustrate capabilities for control of blood glucose levels by timed delivery of insulin.

Highly-integrated, miniaturized, stretchable electronic systems based on stacked multilayer network materials

“…S3 to S7 provide quantitative results of experiments and FEA that illustrates the advantage of the cellular encapsulation strategy based on bilayer network materials over the conventional solid encapsulation strategy. Here, we choose a widely used encapsulation material (PDMS; with weight ratio of 1:10; elastic modulus, ~0.81 MPa; SYLGARD 184, Dow Corning Corporation) for comparison ( 1 , 10 , 15 ). In particular, the proposed cellular encapsulation strategy offers a substantially increased elastic stretchability (~45 and 46% according to FEA and experiment, respectively) compared to the case (~6 and 5.3% according to FEA and experiment, respectively) of conventional encapsulation strategy.…”

Implantable system for chronotherapy

“…To address these challenges, in this work, we developed a WCBIS capable of an on-demand/programmable drug delivery by enabling the synchronization of drug administration with the time of delivery. Previously, several battery-free implantable devices have been proposed, for example, a soft implantable drug delivery device using a wireless power transmission ( 29 ) and, in another instance, a wirelessly controlled, bioresorbable drug delivery device that combines biocompatible wireless power-harvesting function ( 30 ). These devices rely on electronics, do not have refill features, and require an incision for implantation, which can limit subject acceptability.…”

Recent Progress on Bioresorbable Passive Electronic Devices and Systems

“…As a result, triggerable release of drugs through the opened gate is realized. Moreover, optimizations in an array of wireless power harvesters, each of which has different resonant frequencies, can lead to a wirelessly programmable release of insulin for the regulation of blood glucose [ 7 ].…”

“…Compared to permanent electronics, one of the most significant advantages of transient electronics, aiming for biomedical applications, manifests in the elimination of risks and costs associated with the secondary surgery for the device retrieval, thus attracting numerous attentions from both academic and industrial researchers [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. As a result, various bioresorbable electronic devices or systems with different diagnosis and/or treatment functionalities are developed, such as intracranial pressure/temperature sensors [ 4 , 5 ], electronic stimulators for nerve regeneration [ 4 , 6 , 7 ], drug delivery systems [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ], and others.…”