Toward A New Oral Delivery System For Insulin Using Nanoshell Shields

Main Category: Diabetes
Article Date: 09 Jan 2007 - 10:00 PDT

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Scientists in Taiwan are reporting development of a nanoparticle drug delivery system that shows promise as a potential way to administer insulin and perhaps other protein-based drugs by mouth rather than injection or nasal sprays.

Hsing-Wen Sung and colleagues at the National Tsing Hua University, the Chinese Naval Academy and the National Health Research Institute point out that stomach acid destroys protein-based drugs, making them ineffective. That problem has led to broadly based efforts to find ways of encapsulating or otherwise protecting insulin from damage in the stomach so it could be given in a convenient oral form. Once the drug passes through the stomach, it can be absorbed in the small intestine.

In their new research, in ACS' Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal, researchers describe loading insulin into nanospheres made from chitosan, a natural carbohydrate polymer material obtained commercially from shells of shrimp that is nontoxic and biocompatible. When given to diabetic laboratory rats, the insulin-loaded nanoparticles successfully reduced blood sugar levels in the animals.

ARTICLE #2

"Preparation and Characterization of Nanoparticles Shelled with Chitosan for Oral Insulin Delivery"

CONTACT:

Hsing-Wen Sung, Ph.D.
National Tsing Hua University
Hsinchu, China

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ACS News Service Weekly PressPac -- January 3, 2007

The American Chemical Society -- the world's largest scientific society -- is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

Contact: Michael Woods
American Chemical Society

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