Wirelessly triggered bioactive molecule delivery from degradable electroactive polymer films

Abstract

The development of stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems offers significant opportunities for innovations in industry. It is possible to produce polymer-based drug delivery devices enabling spatiotemporal control of the release of the drug triggered by an electrical stimulus. Here we describe the development of a wireless controller for drug delivery from conductive/electroactive polymer-based biomaterials and demonstrate its function in vitro. The wireless polymer conduction controller device uses very low power, operating at 2.4 GHz, and has a supply voltage controller circuit which controls electrical stimulation voltage levels. The computer graphical user interface program communicates with the controller device, and it receives device information, device status and temperature data from the controller device. The prototype of the wireless controller system can trigger the delivery of a drug, dexamethasone phosphate, from a matrix of degradable electroactive polymers. Furthermore, we introduce the application of in silico toxicity screening as a potentially useful method to facilitate the design of non-toxic degradable electroactive polymers for a multitude of biotechnological applications, addressing one of the key commercial challenges to biomaterial development, in accordance with ‘safe by design’ principles. © 2020 The Authors. Polymer International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Industrial Chemistry. © 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.