UV-activated membrane may replace injections for premature babies

Agencies | Published: October 30, 2014 7:49 pm

According to a study appeared in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, drugs can be delivered to premature babies via a plaster rather than an injection. Instead of using injections or probes, it will in future be possible to deliver drugs to premature babies via a plaster. Researchers have developed a UV-activated membrane, which releases a gentle dose of medication to the skin of a patient. The plaster, which delivers drug through the membrane, can be simply stuck to the skin of the premature baby, after which it will provide the tiny patient with a continuous dose of, say, caffeine for several hours, without stressing the child as an injection would have done. (Read: Human milk vital for premature babies)

For some years now premature babies have been given caffeine to prevent respiratory arrest. The membrane developed at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology changes its properties when it is irradiated with ultraviolet (UV) light. ‘A similar effect is seen in photochromatic sunglasses, where silver-doped glass reacts to UV light by darkening,’ the researchers noted. ‘In the new medicinal membranes, however, another light-sensitive chemical group, called spiropyrans, is active,’ they added. (Read: 10 vaccines recommended for your child)

When activated, these make the membrane more permeable, so that the drug is able to pass through it more rapidly, a capability which is retained for several hours. In the absence of UV irradiation, the membrane simply prevents the active agent from permeating through it.

Source: IANS

Image Source: Getty Images

Published: October 30, 2014 7:49 pm

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