UCLA

Oral delivery of protein drugs like insulin can be a direct treatment for protein-deficiency diseases and relieve patients from traditional painful injections, but is limited by poor stability and low bioavailability of proteins throughout oral delivery route. In this thesis, a single-protein nanocapsule platform, based on polymerization of positive and mucoadhesive monomers, has been applied to encapsulate orally administrated insulin and its formation is confirmed by various characterization techniques. In vitro diffusion and in vivo distribution studies both exhibit great superiority of this nanocapsule platform in bioavailability and residence time over native protein, showing its potential application for the therapy of diabetes.