Villi Inspired Mechanical Interlocking for Intestinal Retentive Devices.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Gastroenterology
• Materials Science

Background:

• Intestinal retentive devices are crucial for sustained oral drug delivery and indwelling medical applications.
• Current retention methods rely on mucoadhesion or mechanical piercing, posing limitations.
• A non-penetrative mechanical interlocking strategy is needed for safer and more effective intestinal retention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of intestinal retention using villi-inspired micropost structures.
• To investigate the mechanical interlocking between microposts and natural intestinal villi.
• To predict optimal design parameters for in vivo retention of non-penetrative devices.

Main Methods:

• Computational simulations to estimate resistance to peristaltic shear forces.
• In vitro fabrication of micropost array patches using replica molding.
• Lap-shear tests to assess interlocking performance with artificial villi.

Main Results:

• Simulations provided insights into the viability of mechanical interlocking for intestinal retention.
• Fabricated micropost patches demonstrated effective interlocking with artificial villi.
• Optimal material and design parameters for in vivo retention were predicted.

Conclusions:

• Micropost-villi mechanical interlocking is a viable strategy for intestinal retention.
• This proof-of-concept study paves the way for non-penetrative, multifunctional intestinal devices.
• The developed technology holds potential for advanced drug delivery and ingestible medical applications.