Squid-inspired pills squirt drugs straight into your gut
Nature Podcast
Deep Dive
Why did researchers develop squid-inspired drug delivery devices?
To create a needle-free, swallowable method for delivering drugs directly into the gut lining, bypassing the digestive system's degradation of many medications. This approach aligns with people's preference for pills over injections and offers a potential solution for drugs like insulin.
How do the squid-inspired drug delivery devices work?
The devices use tiny jets to squirt drugs into the gut lining, inspired by squids' ability to shoot ink. They are designed to self-orient and fire jets at the correct angle depending on their location in the digestive tract, ensuring drug delivery into the submucosal space.
What challenges did the researchers face in developing these devices?
They needed to determine the exact pressure required to deliver drugs into the gut tissue without causing harm. Additionally, they had to ensure the devices could self-orient and fire jets accurately, as well as address potential discomfort from the device's movement after firing.
What drugs have been tested with these devices so far?
The devices have been tested with insulin, RNA molecules, and GLP-1 receptor agonists, showing comparable efficacy to subcutaneous injections in animal models.
What are 'forever chemicals', and why are they a problem?
Forever chemicals, or PFAS, are a group of over 10,000 chemicals with strong carbon-fluorine bonds, making them highly persistent in the environment. They are used in non-stick coatings and firefighting foams but are difficult to break down and pose environmental and health risks.
How do the new light-activated catalysts for breaking down forever chemicals work?
The catalysts absorb light energy, which is then used to break the strong carbon-fluorine bonds in PFAS. One method reduces the PFAS into amorphous carbon and fluoride, while another replaces fluorine atoms with hydrogen, creating more easily degradable organic molecules.
What are the advantages of using light-activated catalysts over other methods for breaking down PFAS?
These catalysts operate under mild conditions, such as room temperature or slightly higher, and use less energy compared to harsh methods like incineration. They also show potential for scalability and practical application in real-world scenarios like wastewater treatment.
What recent findings have been made about the Moon's far side volcanic activity?
Samples from the Chang'e 6 mission revealed volcanic activity on the Moon's far side as recent as 2.8 billion years ago, much later than previously thought. This challenges the idea that the far side was less volcanically active than the near side, raising questions about what powered this activity.
How did researchers use CRISPR to create sweeter tomatoes?
By deactivating two genes responsible for degrading enzymes involved in sugar production, researchers increased the sugar content in genetically engineered tomatoes without affecting their size. This resulted in larger, sweeter tomatoes with 30% more glucose and fructose.
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