Lancing drug reservoirs into subcutaneous fat to combat obesity and associated metabolic diseases

• Main Authors: Than, Aung, Duong, Phan Khanh, Zan, Ping, Liu, Junjie, Leow, Melvin Khee-Shing, Chen, Peng
• Other Authors: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Engineering; Transdermal Drug Delivery; Controlled Release
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/147527
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Obesity is a serious epidemic health problem that can cause many other diseases including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Current approaches to combat obesity suffer from low effectiveness and adverse side effects. Here, a new self-administrable and minimally invasive transdermal drug delivery strategy for home-based long-term treatment of obesity and other diseases is developed. Specifically, ultrathin, core-shelled, and lance-shaped polymeric drug reservoirs (micro-lances [MLs]) are readily fabricated by a thermal pressing molding method and totally implanted into subcutaneous fat by lancing through the skin. Using a diet-induced obese mouse model, it is shown that the development of obesity and associated metabolic disorders is effectively inhibited by applying therapeutic core-shelled MLs once every 2 weeks. The outstanding therapeutic effects are attributable to highly localized and biphasic drug release, as well as combination therapy based on browning transformation of white fat and enhanced insulin sensitivity.