Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Octopus Suckers Inspire Transdermal Patches
3D printing is used to create an octopus-inspired transdermal drug patch for oral use.
Using 3D printing, they created a rubbery but strong suction patch that delivers drugs through the inner cheek. https://t.co/zEi1mPOGDT
— Popular Science (@PopSci) September 28, 2023
In a new study published today in Science Translational Medicine, senior author Leroux and his team replicated the suckers found at the end of an octopus’s arms. Using 3D printing, they created a rubbery but strong suction patch that delivers drugs through the inner cheek. The majority of participants in a small human trial reported that the suction patch was a comfortable fit and they would prefer this method to needle injections.“We have developed a very simple and easy to apply delivery system that could potentially replace injectables for several kinds of drugs,” Leroux says.
Octopuses use their grippy suckers to stay anchored in churning oceans or grab squirming prey. “The starting point was mimicking the good suction these creatures had to strongly stick to wet surfaces,” Leroux adds.
Their sucker-based model has a few advantages over swallowing a pill. Because the delivery system is placed in a cheek for absorption over time, the patch can be removed if needed. The domed cup also protects the drugs inside from dissolving in saliva.
Philip K. Dick was a very early science fiction advocate of unusual drug delivery methods, so it's no surprise that he would have introduced readers to this idea long in advance of the actual availability of the technology.
In his 1960 novel Vulcan’s Hammer he describes transdermal drug patches, which weren't available commercially until 1979:
Jason Dill put down the form. He opened a drawer of his desk and got out a flat metal tin; from it he took a capsule which he placed against his wrist. At once the capsule dissolved through the dermal layers; he felt it go into his body, passing into his blood stream to begin work without delay
I can't help but think that PKD would have been amused and fascinated by the biomimicry aspect of this oral transdermal drug patch.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/27/2023)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Medical ")
MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.' - Charles Recour, 1949.
Bone-Building Drug Evenity Approved
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...' - Edmond Hamilton, 1932.
BrainBridge Concept Transplant Of Human Head Proposed
'Briquet’s head seemed to think that to find and attach a new body to her head was as easy as to fit and sew a new dress.' - Alexander Belaev (1925)
Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...' - Charles Recour, 1949.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Grok And The City Fathers From 'Cities In Flight' By James Blish
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
Why Not Move A Warehouse District?
'Did you never see a moving house before?'
Will An AI Found A New Religion?
'You must decide how you will worship Me.'
Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
I Need An Outdoor Spherical Display
'Usually a spherical display hovered in the centre...'
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer
It's a computer, but just barely.
'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'
Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
Outdoor Video Screens Can Be Arbitrarily Large
The Shape of Things To Come
Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.'
What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'
RentAHuman App Lets AI Agents Hire Humans
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'
