Zhang Xiaoxuan, Wang Yuetong, Chi Junjie, Zhao Yuanjin
State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Institute of Translational Medicine, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing 210008, China.
Research (Wash D C). 2020 Dec 18;2020:7462915. doi: 10.34133/2020/7462915. eCollection 2020.
Microneedles represent a cutting-edge and idea-inspiring technology in biomedical engineering, which have attracted increasing attention of scientific researchers and medical staffs. Over the past decades, numerous great achievements have been made. The fabrication process of microneedles has been simplified and becomes more precise, easy-to-operate, and reusable. Besides, microneedles with various features have been developed and the microneedle materials have greatly expanded. In recent years, efforts have been focused on generating smart microneedles by endowing them with intriguing functions such as adhesion ability, responsiveness, and controllable drug release. Such improvements enable the microneedles to take an important step in practical applications including household drug delivery devices, wearable biosensors, biomedical assays, cell culture, and microfluidic chip analysis. In this review, the fabrication strategies, distinctive properties, and typical applications of the smart microneedles are discussed. Recent accomplishments, remaining challenges, and future prospects are also presented.
微针是生物医学工程领域一项前沿且极具启发性的技术，已吸引了科研人员和医护人员越来越多的关注。在过去几十年里，取得了众多重大成就。微针的制造工艺得到简化，变得更加精确、易于操作且可重复使用。此外，已开发出具有各种特性的微针，微针材料也有了极大扩展。近年来，人们致力于通过赋予微针诸如粘附能力、响应性和可控药物释放等有趣功能来制造智能微针。这些改进使微针在包括家用给药装置、可穿戴生物传感器、生物医学检测、细胞培养和微流控芯片分析等实际应用中迈出了重要一步。在这篇综述中，将讨论智能微针的制造策略、独特性能和典型应用。还将介绍近期取得的成果、尚存的挑战以及未来前景。
