TY - JOUR TI - Transdermal delivery of insulin DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T35M67M3 PY - 2015 AB - Diabetes is a disease where the body either cannot produce insulin (type I) or the cells simply reject the insulin (type II). While type II can develop in adults, type I diabetes is more common in children and is harder to control. Since insulin is not naturally produced in type I diabetics, synthetic insulin has been developed to be administered to the body and control blood sugar levels. This administration is usually done through a pump which is not only uncomfortable but is also bulky. The aim of this study is to determine if liposomes can be used to effectively administer insulin transdermally by using the pH gradient between the stratum corneum (pH 4.0) and the bloodstream (pH 7.4). Evaluation of encapsulation efficiency and time-release of liposomes was performed using a Pierce BCA protein assay. At each time point, the released insulin was separated using size exclusion chromatography. The results of this study show that lyophilized liposomes can encapsulate about 60% of insulin. Liposomes retain their contents in acidic pH values while all of their contents are released within one hour at pH 7.4. KW - Chemical and Biochemical Engineering KW - Transdermal medication KW - Insulin KW - Liposomes LA - eng ER -