Zinc Microrocket Pills: Fabrication and Characterization toward Active Oral Delivery

Abstract

Here the fabrication of a zinc (Zn) microrocket pill is reported, and its unique features toward active and enhanced oral delivery application are demonstrated. By loading Zn‐based tubular microrockets into an orally administrable pill formulation, the resulting Zn microrocket pill can rapidly dissolve in the stomach, releasing numerous encapsulated Zn microrockets that are instantaneously activated and then propel in the gastric fluid. The released Zn microrockets display efficient propulsion without being affected by the presence of the inactive excipient materials of the pill. An in vivo retention study performed in mice clearly shows that the active pill dissolution and powerful acid‐driven Zn microrocket propulsion greatly enhance the microrocket retention within the gastric tissue without causing toxic effects. By combining the active delivery feature of Zn microrockets with the oral administration of a pill, the Zn microrocket pill holds considerable potential for active oral delivery of various therapeutics for diverse medical applications.

Medical Micro/Nanorobots in Precision Medicine

“…[ 142,143 ] In this direction, micro/nanorobots have the potential to overcome this challenge by offering a motile platform capable of delivering a precise dosage in the target area rather than relying on the systemic release of large therapeutic dosages. [ 144–148 ]…”

Chemically Propelled Nano and Micromotors in the Body: Quo Vadis?

“…Many of the issues, of course, do not pertain to situations where the motors can be inserted directly near the disease site. Examples include the use of micromotors in the gastro-intestinal tract, [67][68][69][70][71][72] the bladder, [73] vitreous humor of the eye, [54,74,75] female reproductive system, [76] and rectal routes. [77] In these instances, fluid flow is not significant and the particles do not need to move from one type of tissue to another.…”

Biodegradability of Micro/Nanomotors: Challenges and Opportunities

“…Significantly, the living mouse model was used in this study for the first time, which opens the door for in vivo studies on micromotors. To promote an oral administration, similar PEDOT/Au/Zn micromotors were tableted with lactose/maltose excipients for the formation of Zn micromotor pills, which was better for intragastric drug delivery [ 24 ] (Figure 1D). In this platform, the main degradation product was Zn 2+ , and the additional components (lactose and maltose) were also biodegradable.…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 24 ] Copyright 2020, Wiley‐VCH GmbH. E) Schematic representation of a multicompartmental micromotor.…”