可通过胃部传输胰岛素的新型药丸 [美国媒体]

An MIT-led research team has developed adrug capsule that could be used to deliver oral doses of insulin, potentiallyreplacing the injections that people with type 2 diabetes have to givethemselves every day.

一个麻省理工学院领导的研究团队研发了一种可用于传输口服胰岛素的药物胶囊，这很有可能取代患有2型糖尿病的病人每天要给他们自己进行的注射。

About the size of a blueberry, the capsulecontains a small needle made of compressed insulin, which is injected after thecapsule reaches the stomach. In tests in animals, the researchers showed thatthey could deliver enough insulin to lower blood sugar to levels comparable tothose produced by injections given through skin. They also demonstrated thatthe device can be adapted to deliver other protein drugs.

大概蓝莓大小的胶囊中含有一个有压缩胰岛素制成的小针，当胶囊达到胃部后胰岛素被注入人体。在动物实验中，研究人员展示了他们可以传输足够的胰岛素来降低血糖水平，这种效果足以与通过皮肤注射的胰岛素相比。他们还展示了这种方式可用来传输其他蛋白质药物。



Self-orientation

自我定位

Several years ago, Traverso, Langer, andtheir colleagues developed a pill coated with many tiny needles that could beused to inject drugs into the lining of the stomach or the small intestine. Forthe new capsule, the researchers changed the design to have just one needle,allowing them to avoid injecting drugs into the interior of the stomach, wherethey would be broken down by stomach acids before having any effect.

几年前，Traverso,Langer和他们的同行开发了一种被许多微小针头覆盖的药丸，这种药丸可用来将药物注射至胃内膜或者小肠。在这种新型胶囊中，研究人员改变了设计，保留了一个针头，从而避免在胃的内部注射药物。这是因为，胃酸会在药物起作用前将其破坏失效。



The researchers drew their inspiration forthe self-orientation feature from a tortoise known as the leopard tortoise.This tortoise, which is found in Africa, has a shell with a high, steep dome,allowing it to right itself if it rolls onto its back. The researchers usedcomputer modeling to come up with a variant of this shape for their capsule,which allows it to reorient itself even in the dynamic environment of thestomach.

研究人员从一种名为豹纹陆龟的乌龟身上获得了自我定位的灵感。这只生活在非洲的乌龟，有一个又高又陡的龟壳，如果它仰面朝天，就可以调整自己。研究人员利用计算机建模，为他们的胶囊设计出这种形状的变体，使其即使在胃的动态环境中也能重新定位。

"What's important is that we have theneedle in contact with the tissue when it is injected," Abramson says."Also, if a person were to move around or the stomach were to growl, thedevice would not move from its preferred orientation."

Abramson说:“重要的是，我们在注射时要让针头接触到组织。”“此外，如果一个人在移动，或者胃在咕咕叫，这个设备就不会从它优先的方向上移动。”



"Our motivation is to make it easierfor patients to take medication, particularly medications that require aninjection," Traverso says. "The classic one is insulin, but there aremany others."

“我们的动机是让患者更容易服药，尤其是需要注射的药物，”Traverso说。“最典型的是胰岛素，但还有很多其他的。

The research was funded by Novo Nordisk,the National Institutes of Health, a National Science Foundation GraduateResearch Fellowship, Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Viking Olaf Bjork ResearchScholarship, and the MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.

该研究由诺和诺德、美国国立卫生研究院、美国国家科学基金会研究生研究奖学金、布里格姆妇女医院、维京人奥拉夫·比约克研究奖学金以及麻省理工学院本科生研究机会计划资助。

Other authors of the paper include EsterCaffarel-Salvador, Minsoo Khang, David Dellal, David Silverstein, Yuan Gao,Morten Revsgaard Frederiksen, Andreas Vegge, Frantisek Hubalek, Jorrit Water,Anders Friderichsen, Johannes Fels, Rikke Kaae Kirk, Cody Cleveland, JoyCollins, Siddartha Tamang, Alison Hayward, Tomas Landh, Stephen Buckley, NiclasRoxhed, and Ulrik Rahbek.

本论文的其他作者包括EsterCaffarel-Salvador、Minsoo Khang、David Dellal、David Silverstein、Yuan Gao、Morten Revsgaard Frederiksen、Andreas Vegge、Frantisek Hubalek、Jorrit Water、Anders Friderichsen、Johannes Fels、Rikke Kaae Kirk、Cody Cleveland、Joy Collins、Siddartha Tamang、Alison Hayward、Tomas Landh、Stephen Buckley、Niclas Roxhed、Ulrik Rahbek。