Osmotically driven drug delivery through remote-controlled magnetic nanocomposite membranes

Implantable drug delivery systems can provide long-term reliability, controllability, and biocompatibility, and have been used in many applications, including cancer pain and non-malignant pain treatment. However, many of the available systems are limited to zero-order, inconsistent, or single burst event drug release. To address these limitations, we demonstrate prototypes of a remotely operated drug delivery device that offers controllability of drug release profiles, using osmotic pumping as a pressure source and magnetically triggered membranes as switchable on-demand valves. The membranes are made of either ethyl cellulose, or the proposed stronger cellulose acetate polymer, mixed with thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel and superparamagnetic iron oxide particles. The prototype devices' drug diffusion rates are on the order of 0.5-2 μg/h for higher release rate designs, and 12-40 ng/h for lower release rates, with maximum release ratios of 4.2 and 3.2, respectively. The devices exhibit increased drug delivery rates with higher osmotic pumping rates or with magnetically increased membrane porosity. Furthermore, by vapor deposition of a cyanoacrylate layer, a drastic reduction of the drug delivery rate from micrograms down to tens of nanograms per hour is achieved. By utilizing magnetic membranes as the valve-control mechanism, triggered remotely by means of induction heating, the demonstrated drug delivery devices benefit from having the power source external to the system, eliminating the need for a battery. These designs multiply the potential approaches towards increasing the on-demand controllability and customizability of drug delivery profiles in the expanding field of implantable drug delivery systems, with the future possibility of remotely controlling the pressure source.

A magnetic nanocomposite for biomimetic flow sensing

A magnetic nanocomposite has been implemented as artificial hair on a giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) thin-film sensor for flow sensing. The 500 μm long and 100 μm in diameter pillars are composed of iron nanowires incorporated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The nanowires' length and diameter are 6 μm and 35 nm, respectively. Upon fluid flow, the pillars are deflected, causing a change in the magnetic field at the GMI element and a corresponding change in impedance. The permanent magnetic behavior of the nanowires in combination with the GMI sensor and the high elasticity of the PDMS pillars result in a high-performance flow sensor with low power consumption and potential for remote detection. No additional magnetic field is required to magnetize the nanowires or bias the sensor, which simplifies miniaturization and integration in microsystems. At a power consumption of 31.6 μW, air flow rates up to 190 mm s(-1) can be detected with a sensitivity of 24 mΩ (mm)(-1) s and a resolution of 0.56 mm s(-1) while the range for water flow is up to 7.8 mm s(-1) with a sensitivity of 0.9 Ω (mm)(-1) s and a resolution of 15 μm s(-1). When power consumption is reduced to as low as 80 nW a high resolution of 32 μm s(-1) is still maintained.

Isolation of cells for selective treatment and analysis using a magnetic microfluidic chip

This study describes the development and testing of a magnetic microfluidic chip (MMC) for trapping and isolating cells tagged with superparamagnetic beads (SPBs) in a microfluidic environment for selective treatment and analysis. The trapping and isolation are done in two separate steps; first, the trapping of the tagged cells in a main channel is achieved by soft ferromagnetic disks and second, the transportation of the cells into side chambers for isolation is executed by tapered conductive paths made of Gold (Au). Numerical simulations were performed to analyze the magnetic flux and force distributions of the disks and conducting paths, for trapping and transporting SPBs. The MMC was fabricated using standard microfabrication processes. Experiments were performed with E. coli (K12 strand) tagged with 2.8 μm SPBs. The results showed that E. coli can be separated from a sample solution by trapping them at the disk sites, and then isolated into chambers by transporting them along the tapered conducting paths. Once the E. coli was trapped inside the side chambers, two selective treatments were performed. In one chamber, a solution with minimal nutrition content was added and, in another chamber, a solution with essential nutrition was added. The results showed that the growth of bacteria cultured in the second chamber containing nutrient was significantly higher, demonstrating that the E. coli was not affected by the magnetically driven transportation and the feasibility of performing different treatments on selectively isolated cells on a single microfluidic platform.