Designing self-triggered micro/milli devices for gastrointestinal tract drug delivery

Introduction: Self-triggered micro-/milli-devices (STMDs), which are artificial devices capable of responding to the surrounding environment and transferring external energy into kinetic energy, thus realizing autonomous movement, have come to the forefront as a powerful tool in cargo delivery via gastrointestinal tract. Urgent needs have been raised to overview the development of this area. Areas covered: We summarize the advancement of designing STMDs for delivery via gastrointestinal tract. We first give a brief overview on the opportunities and challenges of delivery via gastrointestinal tract involving gastric barriers and intestinal barriers. Then, emphasis is laid on the design and applications of STMDs for delivery via gastrointestinal tract. We focus on their morphological characteristics and function design, expounding their working mechanisms in the complex gastrointestinal tract. Expert opinion: Although with much progress in STMDs, there is still a huge gap between laboratory researches and clinical applications due to some limitations including latent digestive burden, sophisticated fabrication, unstable delivery, and so on. We give a discussion on the potential, challenges, and prospects of developing STMDs for delivery via gastrointestinal tract.

Automated summary

This review summarizes the development of self-triggered micro-/milli-devices (STMDs) for delivery via the gastrointestinal tract. It highlights the morphological characteristics and functional design of STMDs, and explores their working mechanisms in the gastrointestinal tract. Despite progress, there are still limitations that need to be addressed through further research and development.