pH-Responsive Polymer Implants for the Protection of Native Mammals: Assessment of Material Properties and Poison Incorporation on Performance
Efforts to mitigate the effects of feral cats through the management of remnant or reintroduced populations of threatened species, are often unsuccessful due to predation by control-averse feral cats, or ‘problem individuals’. In order to target these animals, we have developed the Population Protec...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Polymers |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/15/4/878 |
| _version_ | 1797618509320028160 |
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| author | Kyle Brewer Todd J. McWhorter Katherine Moseby John L. Read David Peacock Anton Blencowe |
| author_facet | Kyle Brewer Todd J. McWhorter Katherine Moseby John L. Read David Peacock Anton Blencowe |
| author_sort | Kyle Brewer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Efforts to mitigate the effects of feral cats through the management of remnant or reintroduced populations of threatened species, are often unsuccessful due to predation by control-averse feral cats, or ‘problem individuals’. In order to target these animals, we have developed the Population Protecting Implant (PPI). PPIs are designed to be implanted subcutaneously in a native animal. If the animal is preyed upon, and the implant ingested by a feral cat, release of a toxic payload is triggered in the acidic stomach environment and the problem individual is eliminated. We introduce the first toxic implant incorporating the poison sodium fluoroacetate. Manufactured via fluidised-bed spray coating, toxic implants exhibited uniform reverse enteric coatings and low intra-batch variation. Toxic implants were found to exhibit favourable stability at subcutaneous pH in vitro, and rapidly release their toxic payload in vitro at gastric pH. However, limited stability was demonstrated in rats in vivo (~39–230 d), due to the use of a filament scaffold to enable coating and was likely exacerbated by metachromatic interactions caused by 1080. This work highlights that future development of the PPIs should primarily focus on removal of the filament scaffold, to afford implants with increased in vivo stability. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:13:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-505714763d144710a72474dec410f130 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4360 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:13:42Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Polymers |
| spelling | doaj.art-505714763d144710a72474dec410f1302023-11-16T22:51:10ZengMDPI AGPolymers2073-43602023-02-0115487810.3390/polym15040878pH-Responsive Polymer Implants for the Protection of Native Mammals: Assessment of Material Properties and Poison Incorporation on PerformanceKyle Brewer0Todd J. McWhorter1Katherine Moseby2John L. Read3David Peacock4Anton Blencowe5Applied Chemistry and Translational Biomaterials (ACTB) Group, Centre for Pharmaceutical Innovation (CPI), UniSA Clinical and Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, AustraliaSchool of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy, SA 5371, AustraliaEcological Horizons Pty. Ltd., P.O. Box 207, Kimba, SA 5641, AustraliaEcological Horizons Pty. Ltd., P.O. Box 207, Kimba, SA 5641, AustraliaDavies Livestock Research Centre, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy, SA 5371, AustraliaApplied Chemistry and Translational Biomaterials (ACTB) Group, Centre for Pharmaceutical Innovation (CPI), UniSA Clinical and Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5000, AustraliaEfforts to mitigate the effects of feral cats through the management of remnant or reintroduced populations of threatened species, are often unsuccessful due to predation by control-averse feral cats, or ‘problem individuals’. In order to target these animals, we have developed the Population Protecting Implant (PPI). PPIs are designed to be implanted subcutaneously in a native animal. If the animal is preyed upon, and the implant ingested by a feral cat, release of a toxic payload is triggered in the acidic stomach environment and the problem individual is eliminated. We introduce the first toxic implant incorporating the poison sodium fluoroacetate. Manufactured via fluidised-bed spray coating, toxic implants exhibited uniform reverse enteric coatings and low intra-batch variation. Toxic implants were found to exhibit favourable stability at subcutaneous pH in vitro, and rapidly release their toxic payload in vitro at gastric pH. However, limited stability was demonstrated in rats in vivo (~39–230 d), due to the use of a filament scaffold to enable coating and was likely exacerbated by metachromatic interactions caused by 1080. This work highlights that future development of the PPIs should primarily focus on removal of the filament scaffold, to afford implants with increased in vivo stability.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/15/4/878fluidised-bed spray coatingreverse-entericpH-responsivesodium fluoroacetatesubcutaneous implantpolymer |
| spellingShingle | Kyle Brewer Todd J. McWhorter Katherine Moseby John L. Read David Peacock Anton Blencowe pH-Responsive Polymer Implants for the Protection of Native Mammals: Assessment of Material Properties and Poison Incorporation on Performance Polymers fluidised-bed spray coating reverse-enteric pH-responsive sodium fluoroacetate subcutaneous implant polymer |
| title | pH-Responsive Polymer Implants for the Protection of Native Mammals: Assessment of Material Properties and Poison Incorporation on Performance |
| title_full | pH-Responsive Polymer Implants for the Protection of Native Mammals: Assessment of Material Properties and Poison Incorporation on Performance |
| title_fullStr | pH-Responsive Polymer Implants for the Protection of Native Mammals: Assessment of Material Properties and Poison Incorporation on Performance |
| title_full_unstemmed | pH-Responsive Polymer Implants for the Protection of Native Mammals: Assessment of Material Properties and Poison Incorporation on Performance |
| title_short | pH-Responsive Polymer Implants for the Protection of Native Mammals: Assessment of Material Properties and Poison Incorporation on Performance |
| title_sort | ph responsive polymer implants for the protection of native mammals assessment of material properties and poison incorporation on performance |
| topic | fluidised-bed spray coating reverse-enteric pH-responsive sodium fluoroacetate subcutaneous implant polymer |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/15/4/878 |
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