Al-Qallaf Barrak, Das Diganta Bhusan
Department of Engineering Science, Oxford University, Oxford, UK.
J Drug Target. 2009 Feb;17(2):108-22. doi: 10.1080/10611860802472370.
The technology of fabricating microneedle arrays to deliver high molecular weight drugs across skin in a minimally invasive manner is receiving increasing attention. Microneedle arrays with different geometries have been manufactured using materials such as glass, polymer, metal, etc. However, a framework that can identify the optimum designs of these arrays seems to be lacking. This is important since by optimizing the microneedles dimensions (e.g., surface area of the patch, microneedle radius, etc.) the permeability of drugs in skin can be increased. To address this issue, this study presents an optimization framework for transdermal delivery of high molecular weight drug from microneedle. The optimization process is based on determining an optimization function (g) for various microneedles patterns (e.g., square, diamond, triangular, etc.). We argue that higher the value of g is the higher the drug permeability in skin is. The outputs of the developed framework have allowed us to identify the optimum design of both solid and hollow microneedles. In particular, the results have been used to predict skin permeability of high molecular weight using microneedle system. Also, optimum designs based on different classifications of skin thickness (e.g., race, age, etc.) for transdermal delivery of drugs are suggested.
以微创方式制造微针阵列以透过皮肤递送高分子量药物的技术正受到越来越多的关注。已使用玻璃、聚合物、金属等材料制造出具有不同几何形状的微针阵列。然而，似乎缺乏一个能够确定这些阵列最佳设计的框架。这很重要，因为通过优化微针尺寸（例如，贴片的表面积、微针半径等），可以提高药物在皮肤中的渗透性。为了解决这个问题，本研究提出了一种用于从微针经皮递送高分子量药物的优化框架。优化过程基于为各种微针图案（例如，方形、菱形、三角形等）确定一个优化函数（g）。我们认为g值越高，药物在皮肤中的渗透性越高。所开发框架的输出使我们能够确定实心和空心微针的最佳设计。特别是，这些结果已被用于预测使用微针系统的高分子量药物的皮肤渗透性。此外，还提出了基于不同皮肤厚度分类（例如，种族、年龄等）的经皮给药最佳设计。
