Gel capsule could deliver drugs of different types in one pill

The capsule’s structure — hollow except for polymer chains tethered to the interior of the shell — provides spatially segregated compartments that make it a good candidate for multi-drug encapsulation and release strategies.

The microcapsule, which measures less than one micron, could be used to simultaneously deliver distinct drugs by filling the core of the capsule with hydrophilic drugs and trapping hydrophobic drugs within nanoparticles assembled from the polymer chains.

‘We have demonstrated that we can make a fairly complex multi-component delivery vehicle using a relatively straightforward and scalable synthesis,’ said L Andrew Lyon, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech. ‘Additional research will need to be conducted to determine how they would best be loaded, delivered and triggered to release the drugs.’

The researchers began the two-step synthesis procedure by forming core particles from a temperature-sensitive polymer called poly (N-isopropylacrylamide).

To create a dissolvable core, they formed polymer chains from the particles without a cross-linking agent, which resulted in an aggregated collection of polymer chains with temperature-dependent stability.