Robotically handled whole-tissue culture system for the screening of oral drug formulations.

Monolayers of cancer-derived cell lines are widely used in the modelling of the gastrointestinal (GI) absorption of drugs and in oral drug development. However, they do not generally predict drug absorption in vivo. Here, we report a robotically handled system that uses large porcine GI tissue explants that are functionally maintained for an extended period in culture for the high-throughput interrogation (several thousand samples per day) of whole segments of the GI tract. The automated culture system provided higher predictability of drug absorption in the human GI tract than a Caco-2 Transwell system (Spearman's correlation coefficients of 0.906 and 0.302, respectively). By using the culture system to analyse the intestinal absorption of 2,930 formulations of the peptide drug oxytocin, we discovered an absorption enhancer that resulted in a 11.3-fold increase in the oral bioavailability of oxytocin in pigs in the absence of cellular disruption of the intestinal tissue. The robotically handled whole-tissue culture system should help advance the development of oral drug formulations and might also be useful for drug screening applications.

Development of an oral once-weekly drug delivery system for HIV antiretroviral therapy.

The efficacy of antiretroviral therapy is significantly compromised by medication non-adherence. Long-acting enteral systems that can ease the burden of daily adherence have not yet been developed. Here we describe an oral dosage form composed of distinct drug-polymer matrices which achieved week-long systemic drug levels of the antiretrovirals dolutegravir, rilpivirine and cabotegravir in a pig. Simulations of viral dynamics and patient adherence patterns indicate that such systems would significantly reduce therapeutic failures and epidemiological modelling suggests that using such an intervention prophylactically could avert hundreds of thousands of new HIV cases. In sum, weekly administration of long-acting antiretrovirals via a novel oral dosage form is a promising intervention to help control the HIV epidemic worldwide.

Defining optimal permeant characteristics for ultrasound-mediated gastrointestinal delivery.

Ultrasound-mediated drug delivery in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a bourgeoning area of study. Localized, low-frequency ultrasound has recently been shown to enable significant enhancement in delivery of a broad set of active pharmaceutical ingredients including small molecules, proteins, and nucleic acids without any formulation or encapsulation of the therapeutic. Traditional chemical formulations are typically required to protect, stabilize, and enable the successful delivery of a given therapeutic. The use of ultrasound, however, may make delivery insensitive to the chemical formulation. This might open the door to chemical formulations being developed to address other properties besides the deliverability of a therapeutic. Instead, chemical formulations could potentially be developed to achieve novel pharmacokinetics, without consideration of that particular formulation's ability to penetrate the mucus barrier passively. Here we investigated the effect of permeant size, charge, and the presence of chemical penetration enhancers on delivery to GI tissue using ultrasound. Short ultrasound treatments enabled delivery of large permeants, including microparticles, deep into colonic tissue ex vivo. Delivery was relatively independent of size and charge but did depend on conformation, with regular, spherical particles being delivered to a greater extent than long-chain polymers. The subsequent residence time of model permeants in tissue after ultrasound-mediated delivery was found to depend on size, with large microparticles demonstrating negligible clearance from the local tissue 24h after delivery ex vivo. The dependence of clearance time on permeant size was further confirmed in vivo in mice using fluorescently labeled 3kDa and 70kDa dextran. The use of low-frequency ultrasound in the GI tract represents a novel tool for the delivery of a wide-range of therapeutics independent of formulation, potentially allowing for the tailoring of formulations to impart novel pharmacokinetic profiles once delivered into tissue.

Triggerable tough hydrogels for gastric resident dosage forms.

Systems capable of residing for prolonged periods of time in the gastric cavity have transformed our ability to diagnose and treat patients. Gastric resident systems for drug delivery, ideally need to be: ingestible, be able to change shape or swell to ensure prolonged gastric residence, have the mechanical integrity to withstand the forces associated with gastrointestinal motility, be triggerable to address any side effects, and be drug loadable and release drug over a prolonged period of time. Materials that have been primarily utilized for these applications have been largely restricted to thermoplastics and thermosets. Here we describe a novel set of materials, triggerable tough hydrogels, meeting all these requirement, supported by evaluation in a large animal model and ultimately demonstrate the potential of triggerable tough hydrogels to serve as prolonged gastric resident drug depots. Triggerable tough hydrogels may be applied in myriad of applications, including bariatric interventions, drug delivery, and tissue engineering.The use of drug delivery systems for the gastrointestinal tract has been faced with a number of drawbacks related to their prolonged use. Here, the authors develop a drug-loaded hydrogel with high strength to withstand long-term gastrointestinal motility and can be triggered to dissolve on demand.

Prolonged energy harvesting for ingestible devices.

Ingestible electronics have revolutionized the standard of care for a variety of health conditions. Extending the capacity and safety of these devices, and reducing the costs of powering them, could enable broad deployment of prolonged monitoring systems for patients. Although prior biocompatible power harvesting systems for in vivo use have demonstrated short minute-long bursts of power from the stomach, not much is known about the capacity to power electronics in the longer term and throughout the gastrointestinal tract. Here, we report the design and operation of an energy-harvesting galvanic cell for continuous in vivo temperature sensing and wireless communication. The device delivered an average power of 0.23 µW per mm2 of electrode area for an average of 6.1 days of temperature measurements in the gastrointestinal tract of pigs. This power-harvesting cell has the capacity to provide power for prolonged periods of time to the next generation of ingestible electronic devices located in the gastrointestinal tract.

Wireless Power Transfer to Millimeter-Sized Gastrointestinal Electronics Validated in a Swine Model.

Electronic devices placed in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract for prolonged periods have the potential to transform clinical evaluation and treatment. One challenge to the deployment of such gastroresident electronics is the difficulty in powering millimeter-sized electronics devices without using batteries, which compromise biocompatibility and long-term residence. We examined the feasibility of leveraging mid-field wireless powering to transfer power from outside of the body to electronics at various locations along the GI tract. Using simulations and ex vivo measurements, we designed mid-field antennas capable of operating efficiently in tissue at 1.2 GHz. These antennas were then characterized in vivo in five anesthetized pigs, by placing one antenna outside the body, and the other antenna inside the body endoscopically, at the esophagus, stomach, and colon. Across the animals tested, mean transmission efficiencies of -41.2, -36.1, and -34.6 dB were achieved in vivo while coupling power from outside the body to the esophagus, stomach, and colon, respectively. This corresponds to power levels of 37.5 µW, 123 µW and 173 µW received by antennas in the respective locations, while keeping radiation exposure levels below safety thresholds. These power levels are sufficient to wirelessly power a range of medical devices from outside of the body.

Flexible piezoelectric devices for gastrointestinal motility sensing.

Improvements in ingestible electronics with the capacity to sense physiological and pathophysiological states have transformed the standard of care for patients. Yet, despite advances in device development, significant risks associated with solid, non-flexible gastrointestinal transiting systems remain. Here, we report the design and use of an ingestible, flexible piezoelectric device that senses mechanical deformation within the gastric cavity. We demonstrate the capabilities of the sensor in both in vitro and ex vivo simulated gastric models, quantify its key behaviours in the gastrointestinal tract using computational modelling and validate its functionality in awake and ambulating swine. Our proof-of-concept device may lead to the development of ingestible piezoelectric devices that might safely sense mechanical variations and harvest mechanical energy inside the gastrointestinal tract for the diagnosis and treatment of motility disorders, as well as for monitoring ingestion in bariatric applications.

Oral, ultra-long-lasting drug delivery: Application toward malaria elimination goals.

Efforts at elimination of scourges, such as malaria, are limited by the logistic challenges of reaching large rural populations and ensuring patient adherence to adequate pharmacologic treatment. We have developed an oral, ultra-long-acting capsule that dissolves in the stomach and deploys a star-shaped dosage form that releases drug while assuming a geometry that prevents passage through the pylorus yet allows passage of food, enabling prolonged gastric residence. This gastric-resident, drug delivery dosage form releases small-molecule drugs for days to weeks and potentially longer. Upon dissolution of the macrostructure, the components can safely pass through the gastrointestinal tract. Clinical, radiographic, and endoscopic evaluation of a swine large-animal model that received these dosage forms showed no evidence of gastrointestinal obstruction or mucosal injury. We generated long-acting formulations for controlled release of ivermectin, a drug that targets malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, in the gastric environment and incorporated these into our dosage form, which then delivered a sustained therapeutic dose of ivermectin for up to 14 days in our swine model. Further, by using mathematical models of malaria transmission that incorporate the lethal effect of ivermectin against malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, we demonstrated that this system will boost the efficacy of mass drug administration toward malaria elimination goals. Encapsulated, gastric-resident dosage forms for ultra-long-acting drug delivery have the potential to revolutionize treatment options for malaria and other diseases that affect large populations around the globe for which treatment adherence is essential for efficacy.

Circumferential optical coherence tomography angiography imaging of the swine esophagus using a micromotor balloon catheter.

We demonstrate a micromotor balloon imaging catheter for ultrahigh speed endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) which provides wide area, circumferential structural and angiographic imaging of the esophagus without contrast agents. Using a 1310 nm MEMS tunable wavelength swept VCSEL light source, the system has a 1.2 MHz A-scan rate and ~8.5 µm axial resolution in tissue. The micromotor balloon catheter enables circumferential imaging of the esophagus at 240 frames per second (fps) with a ~30 µm (FWHM) spot size. Volumetric imaging is achieved by proximal pullback of the micromotor assembly within the balloon at 1.5 mm/sec. Volumetric data consisting of 4200 circumferential images of 5,000 A-scans each over a 2.6 cm length, covering a ~13 cm(2) area is acquired in <18 seconds. A non-rigid image registration algorithm is used to suppress motion artifacts from non-uniform rotational distortion (NURD), cardiac motion or respiration. En face OCT images at various depths can be generated. OCT angiography (OCTA) is computed using intensity decorrelation between sequential pairs of circumferential scans and enables three-dimensional visualization of vasculature. Wide area volumetric OCT and OCTA imaging of the swine esophagus in vivo is demonstrated.

Transitory FGF treatment results in the long-lasting suppression of the proliferative response to repeated FGF stimulation.

FGF applied as a single growth factor to quiescent mouse fibroblasts induces a round of DNA replication, however continuous stimulation results in arrest in the G1 phase of the next cell cycle. We hypothesized that FGF stimulation induces the establishment of cell memory, which prevents the proliferative response to repeated or continuous FGF application. When a 2-5 days quiescence period was introduced between primary and repeated FGF treatments, fibroblasts failed to efficiently replicate in response to secondary FGF application. The establishment of "FGF memory" during the first FGF stimulation did not require DNA synthesis, but was dependent on the activity of FGF receptors, MEK, p38 MAPK and NFκB signaling, and protein synthesis. While secondary stimulation resulted in strongly decreased replication rate, we did not observe any attenuation of morphological changes, Erk1/2 phosphorylation and cyclin D1 induction. However, secondary FGF stimulation failed to induce the expression of cyclin A, which is critical for the progression from G1 to S phase. Treatment of cells with a broad range histone deacetylase inhibitor during the primary FGF stimulation rescued the proliferative response to the secondary FGF treatment suggesting that the establishment of "FGF memory" may be based on epigenetic changes. We suggest that "FGF memory" can prevent the hyperplastic response to cell damage and inflammation, which are associated with an enhanced FGF production and secretion. "FGF memory" may present a natural obstacle to the efficient application of recombinant FGFs for the treatment of ulcers, ischemias, and wounds.