Pollen‐Inspired Adhesive Multilobe Microparticles from Microfluidics for Intestinal Drug Delivery

Abstract

Microparticles (MPs)‐based delivery systems have a demonstrated value in gastrointestinal administration. Research in this area is focusing on the development of multifunctional MPs to improve delivery effects. Herein, learning from the natural morphology of peony pollens, novel multilobe MPs delivery systems for target surface adhesion and durable drug release are pesented. Ascribing to the flexibility of microfluidic technology and the combination of selective hydrogel degradation methods, MPs with a series of multilobe structures can be obtained using alginate and methacrylated gelatin. Compared with spherical MPs, these multilobe MPs are elucidated to show excellent adhesion capacity due to their enhanced contact area. By encapsulating anti‐inflammatory agent dexamethasone (DXM) into their matrix hydrogel, the resultant multilobe MPs delivery systems are verified to feature durable drug‐release property and anti‐inflammatory efficacy, which is further demonstrated in rats with inflammatory bowel disease. These results indicated that the biomimetic multilobe MPs are potentially ideal adhesive and durable drug‐delivery vehicles for gastrointestinal drug administrations.

Advancements in hydrogel-based drug delivery systems for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease: a review

“…Natural polymeric materials commonly employed in DDSs include gelatin, 69 sodium alginate, 70 chitosan, 71 carboxymethyl cellulose, 72 etc . They generally exhibit excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability and ease of combination with bioactive molecules.…”

Bio-Hybrid Magnetic Robots: From Bioengineering to Targeted Therapy

“…In addition to the whole cells for the synthesis of bio-hybrid magnetic robots, other components derived from the plants are also used, and pollen is the most representative example. Pollen serves as a natural micro-carrier for the transfer of cellular content within plants' reproductive organs [82][83][84]. With a wide range of shapes and sizes, pollen grains of the same species exhibit characteristic features, including uniformity in size, dispersity, and shape.…”

Features of Anisotropic Drug Delivery Systems

“…For instance, according to previous studies, carriers' geometries affect a number of processes involved in the drug delivery mechanism. In particular, the geometry of the carrier can affect particle transportation, accumulation, and biodistribution [1] on a vascular level, as well as the rate of internalization, [2][3][4] adhesion, [5] and toxicity. [6] Chemical anisotropy provides a platform for side-specific functionalization [7,8] and/or multi-compartmental encapsulation [9] of several biologically active substances in one capsule.…”

“…Huang showed pollen-inspired particles for gastrointestinal drug delivery with adhesive multilobe structures made using microfluidics (Figure 1b). [5] Due to its huge surface-bearing capacity, filamentous viruses and phage-mimetic nanoparticles are attracting more and more attention as a drug delivery vehicle Figure 1. A) SEM image of RBC-shaped chitosan microparticles.…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [5] Copyright 2023, John Wiley and Sons. C) TEM image and length distribution of filomicelles.…”