School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Eur J Pharm Biopharm. 2019 Mar;136:48-69. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpb.2019.01.005. Epub 2019 Jan 8.
Transdermal drug delivery offers several attractive advantages over the traditional oral and parenteral routes. Particularly, in case of paediatric patients, it helps to overcome the issues specific to this population, such as difficulty in swallowing and palatability of oral medicines as well as fear and pain associated with needles. However, due to the formidable barrier characteristic of the stratum corneum, it fails in the effective systemic delivery of broad range of therapeutic molecules, especially macromolecules and genetic material. Over the last two decades, microneedle technology has been portrayed as a strategy to infringe the stratum corneum, in a minimally invasive manner, and enable the successful passage of molecules by creating transient channels across the skin. There has been an exponential surge in the number of studies exploring the design, development and fabrication of microneedles. This article reviews the evolution of microneedle technology and provides a comprehensive summary of microneedle research to date. It provides a detailed overview of the microneedle types, advanced fabrication strategies including the biodegradability and compatibility of the new materials used in fabrication. Research on microneedle-mediated paediatric drug delivery as well as insights on the application of this novel technology has been discussed. The up-to-date progress in clinical translation of microneedles and the regulatory requirements for their commercialization are highlighted along with a brief perspective on the future prospects of microneedle-mediated paediatric drug delivery. This review proposes that advanced research can further contribute to the improved therapeutic efficiency of microneedle-based delivery of numerous molecules, which are otherwise difficult to administer via the conventional transdermal delivery mechanisms.
经皮给药相对于传统的口服和肠胃外途径具有许多优势。特别是对于儿科患者，它有助于克服该人群特有的问题，如吞咽困难和口服药物的可接受性，以及与针相关的恐惧和疼痛。然而，由于角质层具有坚固的屏障特性，它无法有效将广泛的治疗分子，特别是大分子和遗传物质递送到全身系统。在过去的二十年中，微针技术已被描绘为一种以微创方式破坏角质层的策略，通过在皮肤表面创建瞬时通道来使分子成功通过。探索微针设计、开发和制造的研究数量呈指数级增长。本文综述了微针技术的发展，并对迄今为止的微针研究进行了全面总结。它详细介绍了微针的类型，先进的制造策略，包括制造中使用的新材料的生物降解性和相容性。讨论了微针介导的儿科药物传递研究以及对这项新技术应用的见解。突出了微针在临床转化方面的最新进展以及商业化的监管要求，并简要展望了微针介导的儿科药物传递的未来前景。这篇综述认为，先进的研究可以进一步提高基于微针的多种分子的治疗效率，否则这些分子通过传统的经皮传递机制难以给药。
