New Novel Drug Delivery Method using Pinpoint Targeting

Release Date: 26-Sep-2019

The action of most of the pharmaceutical depends upon the rapidity by which the drug reaches the target site. Most of them are ingested of injected into the body for achieving the desired action. Researchers are now working to develop more accurate drug delivery systems. The researchers of MIT developed a system to deliver medical treatments that can be released at specific times, minimally-invasively, and that ultimately could also deliver those drugs to specifically targeted areas such as a specific group of neurons in the brain.

The new approach of drug delivery involves the use of tiny magnetic particles enclosed within the hollow bubble of lipids filled with water, which are known as liposomes.  The drug is encapsulated inside this liposomes and release of drug can be achieved by the application of magnetic field. The generation of heat takes place due to the action of magnetic field and release of the drug from liposome takes place.

This study was reported in journal Nature Nanotechnology by postdoc Siyuan Rao, Associate Professor Polina Anikeeva and team including 14 other persons. The findings are reported on August 20, 2019. According to Anikeeva, we wanted a system that could deliver a drug with temporal precision, and could eventually target a particular location.

According to Siyuan Rao, Magnetic fields can easily penetrate through the body, which was demonstrated by detailed internal images produced by magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, were a natural choice. The hard part was finding materials that could be triggered to heat up by using a very weak magnetic field in order to prevent damage to the drug or surrounding tissues.

When the nanoparticles are placed inside a high frequency low strength magnetic field, rise in temperature takes place. This results in the transition of nanoparticles from solid to liquid and increase the porosity of the layer of nanoparticles. The drug molecule is than escape from the liposome or nanoparticles and release of drug takes place. In the absence of magnetic field, the liposomes again solidify and further release of drug is prevented. In this way, the delivery of drug can be controlled.