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Updated: May 28, 2026
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Manufacture and Drug Delivery Applications of Silk Nanoparticles
Published on: October 8, 2016
Functional Performance of Silk Nanoparticles for Oral Drug Delivery
Charlotte Jacobus1, Sawnaz Shaidani1, Emma Tonies2
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, United States.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|May 27, 2026
Summary
Silk nanoparticles (SNPs) offer a promising solution for oral peptide delivery, overcoming gastrointestinal barriers to enhance bioavailability. These biodegradable nanoparticles demonstrate effective mucus penetration and drug stabilization for improved therapeutic absorption.
Area of Science:
- Biomaterials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Drug Delivery
Background:
- Oral delivery of peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids faces significant challenges due to gastrointestinal barriers.
- Existing nanoparticle systems (metal, lipid, synthetic polymers) show limited success owing to toxicity, poor mucus penetration, and instability.
- Silk nanoparticles (SNPs) present a biodegradable and biocompatible alternative with tunable properties for enhanced oral delivery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate a silk nanoparticle (SNP) platform for improving oral absorption of peptide-based therapeutics.
- To evaluate the efficacy of SNPs in overcoming gastrointestinal barriers and enhancing peptide bioavailability.
- To assess the stability, release kinetics, and bioactivity of peptides loaded onto SNPs.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication and characterization of silk nanoparticles (SNPs).
- Surface modification of SNPs with poly(ethylene glycol) for enhanced mucus penetration.
- In vitro assessment of SNP mucus penetration using an intestinal tissue model.
- Evaluation of SNP interaction with intestinal epithelial tight junctions.
- Determination of SNP loading efficiency, drug release profiles, and stability under simulated intestinal conditions.
Main Results:
- SNPs, particularly with poly(ethylene glycol) modification, demonstrated effective mucus penetration in vitro.
- Exposure to SNPs caused transient opening and recovery of intestinal epithelial tight junctions, suggesting enhanced permeation.
- SNPs achieved high loading efficiency (>80%) for semaglutide, with sustained release and maintained bioactivity.
- SNPs showed slow degradation under simulated intestinal enzymatic conditions, preserving drug integrity.
Conclusions:
- Silk nanoparticles represent a viable nanotechnology platform for overcoming gastrointestinal barriers to oral peptide delivery.
- SNP-based systems show significant potential for improving the oral bioavailability of sensitive peptide therapeutics.
- The biodegradability, biocompatibility, and tunable properties of SNPs make them suitable for developing advanced oral drug delivery systems.
Keywords:
intestinal transportnanobio interfacenanoparticleoral bioavailabilitypeptide deliverysemaglutidesilkMore Related Videos
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