Lim Seng Han, Ng Jian Yao, Kang Lifeng
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, Block S4A, Level 3, 18 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543.
Biofabrication. 2017 Jan 10;9(1):015010. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/9/1/015010.
The hand function of patients who suffer from trigger finger can be impaired by the use of traditional splints. There is also a risk of systemic side effects with oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) used for pain relief. Microneedle-assisted transdermal drug delivery offers an attractive alternative for local delivery of NSAIDs. However, traditional microneedle arrays fabricated on flat surfaces are unable to deliver drugs effectively across the undulating skin surface of affected finger(s). In this study, using 3D printing, a dual-function microneedle array has been fabricated on personalized curved surfaces (microneedle splint) for drug delivery and splinting of the affected finger. The novel microneedle splint was assessed for its physical characteristics and the microneedles were shown to withstand up to twice the average thumb force without fracturing. An average skin penetration efficiency of 64% on dermatomed human cadaver skin was achieved and the final microneedle splint showed biocompatibility with human dermal cell lines. A significantly higher amount of diclofenac permeated through the skin by 0.5 h with the use of the microneedle splint as compared to intact skin. The fabricated microneedle splint can thus be a potential new approach to treat trigger finger via personalized splinting without affecting normal hand function.
患有扳机指的患者使用传统夹板可能会损害手部功能。用于缓解疼痛的口服非甾体抗炎药（NSAIDs）也存在全身副作用的风险。微针辅助透皮给药为NSAIDs的局部给药提供了一种有吸引力的替代方法。然而，在平面上制造的传统微针阵列无法有效地将药物输送到受影响手指起伏不平的皮肤表面。在本研究中，利用3D打印技术，在个性化曲面上制造了一种用于药物输送和受影响手指夹板固定的双功能微针阵列（微针夹板）。对新型微针夹板的物理特性进行了评估，结果表明微针能够承受高达平均拇指力两倍的压力而不折断。在去皮的人体尸体皮肤上实现了64%的平均皮肤渗透效率，最终的微针夹板显示出与人真皮细胞系的生物相容性。与完整皮肤相比，使用微针夹板时，双氯芬酸在0.5小时内透过皮肤的量显著更高。因此，制造的微针夹板可能是一种通过个性化夹板固定治疗扳机指而不影响正常手部功能的潜在新方法。
