Researchers at the University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences, led by Associate Professor Ananth Annapragada, said the system is designed to mimic the functions of the pancreas, which produces the hormone insulin.

The smart particle inhalation system stabilized blood sugar levels in animal models with suppressed pancreatic functions for up to six hours.

The researchers said the new technology consists of a blood sugar sensing protein named concanavalin A, or Con A, and bundles of tiny fat bubbles called liposomes that are loaded with insulin.

"Con A binds insulin-containing liposomes that are coated with sugars to each other to form the inhaled particles," Annapragada said. "When blood sugar becomes present, the Con A releases the particles to bind independently to the sugars. The released particles then release their insulin."

The study, which included research assistant Efstathios Karathanasis and postdoctoral fellow Rohan Bhavane, appears in the September issue of the International Journal of Nanomedicine.