Acoustic metamaterials-driven transdermal drug delivery for rapid and on-demand management of acute disease

Junhua Xu; Hongwei Cai; Zhuhao Wu; Xiang Li; Chunhui Tian; Zheng Ao; Vivian C Niu; Xiao Xiao; Lei Jiang; Marat Khodoun; Marc Rothenberg; Ken Mackie; Jun Chen; Luke P Lee; Feng Guo

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-36581-2

Acoustic metamaterials-driven transdermal drug delivery for rapid and on-demand management of acute disease

Nat Commun. 2023 Feb 16;14(1):869. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36581-2.

Authors

Junhua Xu^#^{1

2}, Hongwei Cai^#¹, Zhuhao Wu¹, Xiang Li¹, Chunhui Tian¹, Zheng Ao¹, Vivian C Niu^{1

3}, Xiao Xiao⁴, Lei Jiang¹, Marat Khodoun⁵, Marc Rothenberg⁵, Ken Mackie⁶, Jun Chen⁷, Luke P Lee^{8

9

10}, Feng Guo¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA.
² Biopharmaceutical Research Institute, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China.
³ Bloomington High School South, Bloomington, IN, 47401, USA.
⁴ Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
⁵ Division of Allergy and Immunology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45229, USA.
⁶ Gill Center for Biomolecular Science, and Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA.
⁷ Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA. jun.chen@ucla.edu.
⁸ Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. lplee@bwh.harvard.edu.
⁹ Department of Bioengineering, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA. lplee@bwh.harvard.edu.
¹⁰ Institute of Quantum Biophysics, Department of Biophysics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea. lplee@bwh.harvard.edu.
¹¹ Department of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA. fengguo@iu.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Transdermal drug delivery provides convenient and pain-free self-administration for personalized therapy. However, challenges remain in treating acute diseases mainly due to their inability to timely administrate therapeutics and precisely regulate pharmacokinetics within a short time window. Here we report the development of active acoustic metamaterials-driven transdermal drug delivery for rapid and on-demand acute disease management. Through the integration of active acoustic metamaterials, a compact therapeutic patch is integrated for penetration of skin stratum corneum and active percutaneous transport of therapeutics with precise control of dose and rate over time. Moreover, the patch device quantitatively regulates the dosage and release kinetics of therapeutics and achieves better delivery performance in vivo than through subcutaneous injection. As a proof-of-concept application, we show our method can reverse life-threatening acute allergic reactions in a female mouse model of anaphylaxis via a multi-burst delivery of epinephrine, showing better efficacy than a fixed dosage injection of epinephrine, which is the current gold standard 'self-injectable epinephrine' strategy. This innovative method may provide a promising means to manage acute disease for personalized medicine.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Acoustics
Acute Disease
Administration, Cutaneous
Animals
Drug Delivery Systems* / methods
Female
Mice
Skin*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding