Programmable self-regulated molecular buffers for precise sustained drug delivery
Posted by Wendy Wise on
Scientists at Université de Montréal create molecular buffers for drug delivery as explained in Nature Communications
Scientists at the Université de Montréal were able to maintain an optimal therapeutic concentration of drug dosage at their target site using bio-inspired programmable drug buffers with self-regulating properties. The researchers speculate that with further study, drug delivery systems like this will be able to help prevent medical overdosing and medication errors in the future.
Programmable self-regulated molecular buffers for precise sustained drug delivery
Arnaud Desrosiers, Rabeb Mouna Derbali, Sami Hassine, Jérémie Berdugo, Valérie Long, Dominic Lauzon, Vincent De Guire, Céline Fiset, Luc DesGroseillers, Jeanne Leblond Chain & Alexis Vallée-Bélisle
Unlike artificial nanosystems, biological systems are ideally engineered to respond to their environment. As such, natural molecular buffers ensure precise and quantitative delivery of specific molecules through self-regulated mechanisms based on Le Chatelier’s principle. Here, we apply this principle to design self-regulated nucleic acid molecular buffers for the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin and the antimalarial agent quinine. We show that these aptamer-based buffers can be programmed to maintain any specific desired concentration of free drug both in vitro and in vivo and enable the optimization of the chemical stability, partition coefficient, pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of the drug. These programmable buffers can be built from any polymer and should improve patient therapeutic outcome by enhancing drug activity and minimizing adverse effects and dosage frequency.
Link to article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33491-7
Innovative Research product used in study: Mouse Non Swiss Albino Serum from Innovative Research
https://www.innov-research.com/products/mouse-non-swiss-albino-serum