Expanding routes for drug delivery

摘要

Peptide-triggered particles that release cargos when they meet an enzyme could find use delivering drugs in the body.rnThe system, developed by Rein Ulijn from the University of Strathclyde, UK, and colleagues, consists of hydrogel particles with branched peptide structures called actuators embedded throughout. The particles can be loaded with a payload such as a drug molecule.rnWhen the particles encounter a protease - an enzyme that hydrolyses peptide bonds - the peptide actuators are cleaved. The result is a switch in the actuators' charge balance, from neutral to positive, causing the particles to swell to reduce repulsion between the positive charges. The payload can then diffuse out of the particles through the polymer mesh.