Opportunities and Challenges in Biomimetic Robotic Simulation for In Vitro Testing of Chewable Drugs

摘要

Abstract Robotic biomimicking devices are a novel approach to simulate in vivo processes such that the investigation of bioprocesses is more convenient, and the knowledge gained can be used to promote technologies to improve the quality of life. Chewing is one of the most complex bioprocesses, where the chewed object is comminuted, mixed with saliva, digested by enzymes, and eventually forms into a swallowable bolus. Researchers have been working for years toward in vitro chewing simulators to analyze oral processing and food properties, but little effort has been devoted to the analysis of drugs. Chewable drugs refer to an oral dosage form intended to be chewed by the users rather than swallowed as a whole. Chewing releases the pharmaceutical ingredients directly into the oral cavity and achieves the comminution of the dosage form to ease the swallow and digestion, resulting in a faster onset of the pharmaceutical ingredients. This paper discusses the demands and requirements of a chewing simulator to perform in vitro tests on chewable drugs. The state of the art of chewing simulators is reviewed, followed by the demands and requirements of biomimetic chewing on testing drugs, and the potential and conceptual improvements of an existing chewing simulator for drug testing is also covered.