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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Membrane Transport Processes Analyzed by a Highly Parallel Nanopore Chip System at Single Protein Resolution
Published on: August 16, 2016
Single-file diffusion of protein drugs through cylindrical nanochannels
Seung Yun Yang1, Jeong-A Yang, Eung-Sam Kim
1National Creative Research Center for Block Copolymer Self-Assembly, Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Kyungbuk, Korea.
Abstract:
A new drug delivery device using cylindrical block copolymer nanochannels was successfully developed for controlled protein drug delivery applications. Depending on the hydrodynamic diameter of the protein drugs, the pore size in cylindrical nanochannels could be controlled precisely down to 6 nm by Au deposition. Zero-order release of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human growth hormone (hGH) by single-file diffusion, which has been observed for gas diffusion through zeolite pores, was realized up to 2 months without protein denaturation. Furthermore, a nearly constant in vivo release of hGH from the drug delivery nanodevice implanted to Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats was continued up to 3 weeks, demonstrating the feasibility for long-term controlled delivery of therapeutic protein drugs.
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