Microneedle-array patches loaded with hypoxia-sensitive vesicles provide fast glucose-responsive insulin delivery

By Jicheng Yu, Yuqi Zhang, Yanqi Ye, R. Disanto, Wujin Sun, Davis Ranson, Frances S. Ligler, John B. Buse, Zhen Gu. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015

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Significance For exploiting synthetic glucose-responsive insulin delivery systems, challenges remain to demonstrate a strategy that would combine (i) fast responsiveness, (ii) ease of administration, and (iii) excellent biocompatibility. We have developed a novel glucose-responsive insulin delivery device using a painless microneedle-array patch containing hypoxia-sensitive hyaluronic acid-based vesicles. The vesicles quickly dissociate and release encapsulated insulin under the local hypoxic environment, caused by the enzymatic oxidation of glucose in the hyperglycemic state. This “smart insulin patch” with a new enzyme-based glucose-responsive mechanism can regulate the blood glucose of type 1 diabetic mice to achieve normal levels, with faster responsiveness compared with the commonly used pH-sensitive formulations, and can avoid the risk of hypoglycemia. A glucose-responsive “closed-loop” insulin delivery system mimicking the function of pancreatic cells has tremendous potential to improve quality of life and health in diabetics. Here, we report a novel glucose-responsive insulin delivery device using a painless microneedle-array patch (“smart insulin patch”) containing glucose-responsive vesicles (GRVs; with an average diameter of 118 nm), which are loaded with insulin and glucose oxidase (GOx) enzyme. The GRVs are self-assembled from hypoxia-sensitive hyaluronic acid (HS-HA) conjugated with 2-nitroimidazole (NI), a hydrophobic component that can be converted to hydrophilic 2-aminoimidazoles through bioreduction under hypoxic conditions. The local hypoxic microenvironment caused by the enzymatic oxidation of glucose in the hyperglycemic state promotes the reduction of HS-HA, which rapidly triggers the dissociation of vesicles and subsequent release of insulin. The smart insulin patch effectively regulated the blood glucose in a mouse model of chemically induced type 1 diabetes. The described work is the first demonstration, to our knowledge, of a synthetic glucose-responsive device using a hypoxia trigger for regulation of insulin release. The faster responsiveness of this approach holds promise in avoiding hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia if translated for human therapy.

Subfields: Molecular Biology, Pharmaceutical Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4ffcddb6a9d057f23461ab03b9f6b7ee51b202fa

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In Molecular Biology

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