Effect of contact material on vibration-induced insulin aggregation.

The tendency of insulin to form insoluble aggregates is a major obstacle to the development of implantable insulin infusion systems for treatment of insulin-deficient diabetic patients. A test system was developed to examine the kinetics of insulin aggregation under controlled conditions of temperature, vibration and contact material in an effort to provide design criteria for minimising aggregation. The contact materials tested were all potentially suitable for pump reservoirs on engineering criteria and included metals (stainless steel, titanium and a titanium alloy) and various plastics (polypropylene, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyvinylchloride, polyamide, cellulose butyrate and silicone elastomer). The rate of insulin aggregation was markedly affected by the nature of the contact material. Hydrophilic materials, particularly polyamide and cellulose butyrate (2% of total insulin aggregated after 96 h vibration), appeared more compatible with insulin stability than did hydrophobic ones, such as polypropylene (16% aggregation) and polyvinylchloride (37% aggregation). A specially formulated 'pump' insulin preparation, stabilised by addition of polyethylenepolypropyleneglycol, was significantly superior (three to five times more stable) to a regular neutral insulin formulation under most, but not all, conditions. Standard clinical syringes (polypropylene) performed poorly with both insulin formulations but especially with the neutral regular insulin (100% aggregation after 96 h vibration). In addition to physical aggregates, significant amounts (5%-30%) of the insulin remaining in solution were no longer detectable by immuno- or receptorassay in all materials tested.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)