GUWAHATI: Conventionally, for treating any disease, one takes medicines in the form of tablets, capsules, syrups, ointments, etc. A controlled drug delivery system is a more efficient technique to gradually deliver the required dose at the specific site over the desired period. Loading and release of the drug in its soluble form is another important aspect—which can be achieved with this liquid marble.
IIT Guwahati Researchers Develop 'Time Bomb' Liquid Marbles For Controlled Drug Delivery.
A Research team from the IIT Guwahati led by Uttam Manna, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Centre for Nanotechnology, IIT Guwahati, has used the liquid marbles approach for the controlled release of drugs and programmed chemical reaction. The team has engineered liquid marbles to have a ‘time bomb’ type release effect and to conduct a spontaneous chemical reaction.
Unlike normal droplets, a liquid marble is a non-sticking, non-wetting droplet. It is created by wrapping a droplet with fine hydrophobic particles, i.e., water-repelling particles. When put in a water pool, liquid marbles can be rolled, squeezed, and even float without spilling. In nature, gall-forming aphids create liquid marbles by coating the honeydew they secrete in a powdery wax. Liquid marbles are soft spherical solids that can be used for multiple applications by replacing the liquid inside them. Some examples are sensor platforms, soft robotics, healing agents, biosystems, etc.
Explaining the research challenge, Manna said, “Release of drugs from a liquid marble in response to a stimulus for instance, light, temperature, electricity, has been reported earlier. But the time-programmed release was not yet achieved. We have chemically modified the lifetime of a floating liquid marble on a water pool.”
The nano clay marbles were made of a shell of nanoclay that holds the liquid. The researchers modified the nanoclay with either water-loving chemical groups (hydrophilic) or water-hating (hydrophobic) to programme the marbles for timed content release. A water droplet was laid on a powder bed of hydrophilic and hydrophobic nanoclay powders. The properties and stability of the liquid marbles changed according to the relative amounts of the water-hating and water-loving groups on the nanoclay surface.
Explaining further, Manna said, “The surface modifications on the nano clay changed the time taken for the liquid marble to break and release its contents when put in a pool of water. We were able to control the timing of the release of the content from seconds to hours by changing the nature of the surface groups. This is the time bomb type collapse of LMs.”
Advanced Functional Materials has published details on the formation of the NC liquid marbles and their programmed drug release application. The paper has been co-authored by Nishanta Barman, Arpita Shome, Saurav Kumar, Priyam Mondal, Karan Jain, Mizuki Tenjimbayashi, and Uttam Manna.
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