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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Nov 28.
Published in final edited form as: Biomacromolecules. 2021 Jul 27;22(8):3565–3573. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.1c00648

Figure 1. Schematic of insulin absorption.

Figure 1.

Covalent PEGylation permanently alters the hydrodynamic size of the insulin necessitating uptake from the subcutaneous space through lymphatic vessels and driving increased circulation time once in the blood. In contrast, supramolecular PEGylation, using host–guest binding with cucurbit[7]uril, results in an insulin/PEG complex with a larger hydrodynamic radius that is not readily absorbed from the subcutaneous space into the blood. However, as dynamic exchange of the host–guest binding occurs, some insulin will become available for absorption into the blood where it is unhindered by the bulky PEG chain.