Ultrasound helps to deliver insulin

This advance, developed by researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, could allow diabetics to go days between injections of insulin.

‘This is hopefully a big step toward giving diabetics a more painless method of maintaining healthy blood sugar levels,’ said Dr Zhen Gu, senior author of a paper on the research and an assistant professor in the joint biomedical engineering program at NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill.

The technique involves injecting biocompatible and biodegradable nanoparticles into a patient’s skin. The nanoparticles are made out of poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) and are filled with insulin.

Each of the PLGA nanoparticles is given either a positively charged coating made of chitosan, a biocompatible material normally found in shrimp shells, or a negatively charged coating made of alginate, a biocompatible material normally found in seaweed.

When the solution of coated nanoparticles is mixed together, the positively and negatively charged coatings are attracted to each other by electrostatic force to form a so-called nano-network. Once injected into the subcutaneous layer of the skin, that nano-network holds the nanoparticles together and prevents them from dispersing throughout the body.