A team from the University of North Carolina has been the first to demonstrate the effectiveness of a synthetic glucose-responsive insulin delivery device that responds to a hypoxia trigger. The device, which uses a painless microneedle-array patch, contains glucose-responsive vesicles that are loaded with insulin and glucose oxidase.
A local hypoxic microenvironment caused by the enzymatic oxidation of glucose in the hyperglycemic state causes such vesicles to be self-assembled and dissociated, with a resultant release of insulin. This patch effectively regulated blood glucose in a mouse model of clinically-induced Type 1 diabetes.
Extract of article completed by Dr. Bianca Thomas (University of Johannesburg)
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