Three medications in one tablet

The new pill will be able to release medications on a schedule

Sergey Vasiliev, Naked Science

The treatment of many diseases requires the strictly consistent use of several medications. At the same time, many patients forget to take the next remedy in time, sometimes reducing the treatment to nothing. This "household" problem is significant enough that researchers from all over the world are engaged in solving it. And the developers of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) CerenKimna and OliverLieleg recently proposed their own version for this, their article Engineering an orchestrated release avalanche from hydrogels using DNA-nanotechnology was published in the Journal of Controlled Release.

To minimize the use of pills and achieve consistent isolation of drugs from one pill, scientists used synthetic DNA fragments placed in a polymer hydrogel. The prototype they presented demonstrated the concept by sequentially releasing silver, iron oxide and gold nanoparticles. Initially, they are bound in a hydrogel by DNA molecules, and the whole complex is too large to get out of it. However, the system was then treated with a saline solution simulating application to the skin.

Sections of DNA dissolve in saline solution at different rates, providing a consistent separation of bound particles.

The appearance of salt triggers the gradual decay of DNA fragments. However, they are designed in such a way that this process occurs at different speeds. In the example shown by the authors, silver was released first, then iron oxide, and finally gold. In the future, they can be replaced by real medicines, allowing, for example, to receive consecutive doses of analgesic, anti-inflammatory and decongestant drugs in a single tablet.

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