A wireless actuating drug delivery system

Abstract

A wireless actuating drug delivery system was devised. The system is based on induction heating for drug delivery. In this study, thermally generated nitrogen gas produced by induction heating of azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) was utilized for pressure-driven release of the drug. The delivery device consists of an actuator chamber, a drug reservoir, and a microchannel. A semicircular copper disc (5 and 6 mm in diameter and 100 mu m thick), and thermal conductive tape were integrated as the heating element in the actuator chamber. The final device was 2.7 mm thick. 28 mu l of drug solution were placed in the reservoir and the device released the drug quickly at the rate of 6 mu l s(-1) by induction heating at 160 mu T of magnetic intensity. The entire drug solution was released and dispersed after subcutaneous implantation under identical experimental condition. This study demonstrates that the device was simply prepared and drug delivery could be achieved by wireless actuation of a thin, pressure-driven actuator.