Fabrication and testing of polymer microneedles for transdermal drug delivery
Article
Article Title | Fabrication and testing of polymer microneedles for transdermal drug delivery |
---|---|
ERA Journal ID | 200204 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Ebrahiminejad, Vahid (Author), Faraji Rad, Zahra (Author), Prewett, Philip D. (Author) and Davies, Graham J. (Author) |
Journal Title | Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology |
Journal Citation | 13, pp. 629-640 |
Number of Pages | 12 |
Year | 2022 |
Publisher | Beilstein Institut |
Place of Publication | Germany |
ISSN | 2190-4286 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.13.55 |
Web Address (URL) | https://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/articles/13/55 |
Abstract | Microneedle (MN) patches have considerable potential for medical applications such as transdermal drug delivery, point-of-care diagnostics, and vaccination. These miniature microdevices should successfully pierce the skin tissues while having enough stiffness to withstand the forces imposed by penetration. Developing low-cost and simple manufacturing processes for MNs is of considerable interest. This study reports a simple fabrication process for thermoplastic MNs from cycloolefin polymers (COP) using hot embossing on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) soft molds. COP has gained interest due to its high molding performance and low cost. The resin master MN arrays (9 × 9) were fabricated using two-photon polymerization (TPP). A previous gap in the detailed characterization of the embossing process was investigated, showing an average of 4.99 ± 0.35% longitudinal shrinkage and 2.15 ± 0.96% lateral enlargement in the molded MN replicas. The effects of bending, buckling, and tip blunting were then examined using compression tests and also theoretically. MN array insertion performance was studied in vitro on porcine back skin using both a prototype custom-made applicator and a commercial device. An adjustable skin stretcher mechanism was designed and manufactured to address current limitations for mimicking skin in vivo conditions. Finite element analysis (FEA) was developed to simulate single MN insertion into a multilayered skin model and validated experimentally using a commercial Pen Needle as a model for the thermoplastic MNs. Margins of safety for the current MN design demonstrated its potential for transdermal drug delivery and fluid sampling. Experimental results indicated significant penetration improvements using the prototype applicator, which produced array penetration efficiencies as high as >92%, depending on the impact velocity setting. |
Keywords | hot embossing, microneedles, penetration efficiency, thermoplastic polymers, two-photon polymerization |
Related Output | |
Is part of | Design and fabrication of microneedle patches, microblades and featured insertion applicator for optimising transdermal drug delivery |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 401705. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) |
400303. Biomechanical engineering | |
400308. Medical devices | |
400302. Biomaterials | |
Public Notes | This article is part of a UniSQ Thesis by publication. See Related Output. |
Byline Affiliations | School of Engineering |
University of Birmingham, United Kingdom | |
University of New South Wales | |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q77v3/fabrication-and-testing-of-polymer-microneedles-for-transdermal-drug-delivery
Download files
129
total views55
total downloads0
views this month0
downloads this month