Syringe for oral administration
MIT scientists have created the first convenient insulin pill
Physicists and biologists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a special nanocapsule-a "syringe" that allows you to inject insulin and other unstable substances into the body through the stomach. The first results of its use were presented in the journal Science (Abramson et al., An ingenious self-orienting system for oral delivery of macromolecules).
"We strongly hope that these capsules will soon begin to help diabetics and patients who now need constant injections. In addition, they can radically change the pharmacology, since today we mainly create drugs that can be taken orally. Now this is not required," said Robert Langer, a professor at MIT (in a press release New pill can deliver insulin – VM).
According to WHO statistics, there are about 340 million people suffering from diabetes in the world today. Most of them are forced to take two or even 5-6 injections of insulin a day in order to stabilize blood sugar levels.
Despite its great importance for the body, insulin is a rather dangerous hormone, since its overdose can damage the health of a diabetic or even kill him as a result of hypoglycemia – a sharp decrease in the proportion of sugar in the blood.
In recent years, scientists have been trying to create a safe synthetic analogue of insulin or such hormone injection systems into the body that would protect a person from overdose.
For example, in early 2013, American biochemists created a micro-dropper-a "jellyfish" that slowly releases insulin after being injected under the skin, and a year ago they developed a kind of soluble capsules capable of delivering insulin to the intestine.
Until such alternatives pass all the checks and get into pharmacies, diabetics have to take regular insulin and periodically face hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia – an equally dangerous sharp "jump" in the concentration of glucose in the blood due to lack of insulin.
Langer and his colleagues took the first big step towards solving this problem by creating special nanocapsules capable of injecting insulin or other drugs into the patient's body, sticking to the walls of the stomach with a special nano-needle.
In its structure, this "tablet" is similar to a kind of acorn, turtle shell or pepper shaker. This form, as the doctor explains, allows the capsule to join the surface of the stomach wall, esophagus or any other part of the body with only one side, which prevents the escape of insulin or other drugs into the digestive system.
When the tablet is fixed to the surface, the gastric juice gradually dissolves a special sugar plug on its top, which holds the spring and the needle attached to it in place. When they are released, the needle "shoots" and pierces the lower part of the capsule, penetrating into the gastric mucosa.
After that, insulin gradually penetrates into the bloodstream, and the capsule itself gradually dissolves and disappears after about an hour. As doctors emphasize, the patient does not experience pain at the same time, since there are no such receptors in the stomach tissues.
Langer and his colleagues tested the work of these pills on pigs using two different versions of similar capsules. As these experiments have shown, one such pill can deliver about five milligrams of insulin to the body, which is comparable to the dose required for carriers of type 2 diabetes.
According to the researchers, their development has already attracted the attention of leading pharmaceutical companies. Now they are working together to create new, more versatile versions of such nanocapsules and plan to conduct their clinical trials in the very near future.
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