Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have designed a multiple-compartment gel capsule that could be used to simultaneously deliver drugs of different types. The capsule’s structure — hollow except for polymer chains tethered to the interior of the shell — provides spatially segregated compartments that make it a good candidate for multi-drug encapsulation and release strategies. The microcapsule, which measures less than one micron, could be used to simultaneously deliver distinct drugs by filling the core of the capsule with hydrophilic drugs and trapping hydrophobic drugs within nanoparticles assembled from the polymer chains.
