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  • Review Article
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Bioinspired oral delivery devices

Nature Reviews Bioengineering volume 1, pages 208–225 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Oral administration is a widespread and convenient drug delivery approach. However, oral delivery can be affected by the complex digestive tract environment, including irregular tissue morphology, the presence of digestive enzymes, mucus and mucosal barriers, and spatiotemporal variance in physiological parameters. These obstacles can prevent the oral delivery of many therapeutics. To overcome these challenges, oral delivery devices can be designed with bioinspired compositions, structures or functions to make more drugs available for oral administration. Various bioinspired oral delivery devices have been developed by harnessing biological materials and living microorganisms, or by imitating biological structures and functions. In this Review, we discuss the design and modification of bioinspired oral delivery devices, examining engineering strategies to target specific tissues and applications. We highlight how key bottlenecks in oral delivery can be addressed through bioinspired designs, concluding with an outlook on the remaining challenges towards the clinical translation of bioinspired oral delivery devices.

Key points

  • Biotic components produced by animals, plants and microbes, such as exosomes, pollen grains and bacterial spores, can be used for oral drug delivery and oral vaccination.

  • Living microorganisms can be surface coated, encapsulated or genetically modified to allow oral delivery for the regulation of the intestinal environment, to maintain homeostasis or for disease treatment.

  • Biological materials, such as polysaccharides, peptides, lipids and nucleic acids, including alginate, chitosan, gelatin, liposomes and DNA hydrogels, can improve the efficacy and efficiency of oral delivery devices.

  • Bioinspired chemical components and physical structures can improve the tissue adhesion, permeation and adaption abilities of oral delivery devices.

  • Bioinspired oral delivery devices targeting buccal, oesophageal, gastric and intestinal sites have been preclinically evaluated, and some have entered clinical trials.

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Fig. 1: Oral drug delivery.
Fig. 2: Biotic components for oral delivery.
Fig. 3: Living organisms for oral delivery.
Fig. 4: Bioinspired structures.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFA0908200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (T2225003 and 52073060), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2021B1515120054) and the Shenzhen Fundamental Research Program (JCYJ20190813152616459 and JCYJ20210324133214038).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    Xiaoxuan Zhang, Guopu Chen, Hui Zhang & Yuanjin Zhao

  2. Zhongshan-Xuhui Hospital, and the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, the International Co-laboratory of Medical Epigenetics and Metabolism (Ministry of Science and Technology), Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Luoran Shang

  3. Oujiang Laboratory (Zhejiang Lab for Regenerative Medicine, Vision and Brain Health), Wenzhou Institute, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Yuanjin Zhao

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Contributions

X.Z. gathered information, wrote the manuscript, and prepared the figures and tables. G.C. discussed the manuscript and drafted the figures. H.Z. edited the manuscript. L.S. discussed and edited the manuscript. Y.Z. conceived the concept and reviewed the outline.

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Zhang, X., Chen, G., Zhang, H. et al. Bioinspired oral delivery devices. Nat Rev Bioeng 1, 208–225 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-022-00006-4

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