For as long as doctors have been prescribing pills, stomach acid and mucus in the digestive tract have presented a challenge, the researchers wrote in the study. Pills or capsules degrade, and the mucus lining stops much of the medicine from being absorbed. But the RoboCap can get around this issue, researchers say. — Photo by Ksenia Yakovleva on Unsplash
The body is equipped with natural defences, inside and out, to protect us from a whole wide world of microscopic threats. But sometimes those defences, well-meaning as they may be, can get in the way of what the body needs – like medicine.
So, a team of researchers thought, why not design a tiny, motorised robot – small enough to fit inside a pill along with a payload of medicine – that can drill right through those defences?
The team, led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Shriya Srinivasan, did just that, according to a recently released study in the peer-reviewed journal Science Robotics.
“I was watching videos of these machines that can make tunnels and I thought, ‘OK, what if we did this but for mucus’,” Srinivasan told the New Scientist.
For as long as doctors have been prescribing pills, stomach acid and mucus in the digestive tract have presented a challenge, the researchers wrote in the study. Pills or capsules degrade, and the mucus lining stops much of the medicine from being absorbed.
This can be an even bigger issue with certain antibiotics or medications, including even common medications like insulin, researchers said, as the mucus lining stops virtually any insulin from being absorbed in the body. This is why many diabetics take insulin shots, a painful daily routine for millions.
But the RoboCap can get around this issue, researchers say.
The specialised pill is equipped with a battery-powered robot, loaded inside a gel capsule with a given medicine, according to the study.
Once swallowed, stomach acid destroys the gel exterior covering the machine’s grooved exterior. When it reaches the small intestine, the pH balance triggers its 250 milliwatt motor, causing it to spin and swim about, breaking through mucus while releasing the drug payload.
“Inspired by torpedo blades, we incorporated rounded slits serving as turbine fins ... to generate the propulsion of dislodged mucus,” the study said.
The machine and any pill remnants will exit the body naturally when a person goes to the bathroom, the study says.
So far, the RoboCap hasn’t been tested on humans, but an experiment using a group of seven pigs showed promising results.
Researchers loaded the capsules with either Vancomycin, an antibiotic, or insulin, the study says, and recorded absorption rates 20 to 40 times greater than when delivered with a standard pill.
RoboCap also performed exactly as intended in 10 out of 10 trials, according to the study.
“RoboCap is an innovative concept,” Abdul Basit, professor of pharmaceutics at University College London, told New Scientist.
Basit was not involved in the study but believes RoboCap could be a notable step forward in medicine as a way to increase effectiveness of many drugs and improve the quality of life for many people.
However, it is largely unproven and questions remain regarding its safety and the impacts it could have on helpful bacteria found in the mucus of the digestive system, Basit told the outlet. – The Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service
