Speaker
Description
The skin is the body’s primary biological barrier. Although essential for protection, this barrier function limits the efficacy of transdermal drug delivery, as most topically applied compounds fail to reach deeper skin layers at therapeutically relevant concentrations. Existing approaches often rely on physical disruption of the barrier, which can cause undesirable side effects. Moreover, many prior studies have been conducted in murine models, which do not accurately recapitulate human skin physiology, hindering the translation to humans. Here, we present an alternative approach using enzymatically powered nanomotors. We have developed organic biocompatible and degradable urease-powered nanomotors. We reconstructed native human skin architecture in vitro and confirmed the crossing capability of our nanomotors. Altogether, these results indicate that enzymatic nanomotors can cross human skin, through a combination of local modulation of the lipid structure and enhanced penetration driven by active motion, positioning them as a promising platform for transdermal drug delivery in humans.
