Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Lining the GI tract”.
So one of the things that we set out to do here in collaboration with The Gates Foundation, was develop systems that you know have a potential of making it easier for children to receive their medication.. The key challenges that children have are having to take solids so, whether it’ll be a tablet or a capsule.. So one of the things we wanted to think about and try and develop was a system that could be ingested but as a liquid., And we wanted a system that could somehow extend a longer period of time for that drug to be absorbed., [ Female Voiceover ]. The researchers took their inspiration from nature and began to experiment with a polymer called Polydopamine, which is a component of the sticky substance that mussels secrete to help them cling to rocks..
They discovered that an enzyme called Catalase which is found throughout the digestive tract with especially high levels in the upper region of the small intestine, could help assemble molecules of Dopamine into the Polydopamine polymer. Through their lab experiments. The researchers show that, if they deliver Dopamine in a liquid solution, along with a tiny amount of Hydrogen Peroxide, Catalase in the small intestine will break down the Hydrogen Peroxide into water and oxygen.. The oxygen then helps Dopamine molecules to join together into the Polydopamine polymer.. The darker color signals the transformation into the Polydopamine polymer., So what we developed here is essentially a film that forms right over the small intestine.
And one of the things we recognized was that we could embed drugs in there and have those drugs be absorbed over longer. Periods., But what we also recognized is that we could use that film to hold different tools.. So one of the other tools that we recognized that we could really include here were enzymes to help with digestion. [ Female Voiceover ].
The researchers showed that they could embed the polymer with tiny crosslinkers that make the coating impenetrable to glucose and potentially other molecules.. This could ultimately help in management of diabetes, obesity or other metabolic disorders. .