Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Protein Technology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Biomed Microdevices. 2024 Mar 2;26(2):19. doi: 10.1007/s10544-024-00701-6.
Microneedles are minimally-invasive devices with the unique capability of bypassing physiological barriers. Hence, they are widely used for different applications from drug/vaccine delivery to diagnosis and cosmetic fields. Recently, natural biopolymers (particularly carbohydrates and proteins) have garnered attention as safe and biocompatible materials with tailorable features for microneedle construction. Several review articles have dealt with carbohydrate-based microneedles. This review aims to highlight the less-noticed role of proteins through a systematic search strategy based on the PRISMA guideline from international databases of PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Original English articles with the keyword "microneedle(s)" in their titles along with at least one of the keywords "biopolymers, silk, gelatin, collagen, zein, keratin, fish-scale, mussel, and suckerin" were collected and those in which the proteins undertook a structural role were screened. Then, we focused on the structures and applications of protein-based microneedles. Also, the unique features of some protein biopolymers that make them ideal for microneedle construction (e.g., excellent mechanical strength, self-adhesion, and self-assembly), as well as the challenges associated with them were reviewed. Altogether, the proteins identified so far seem not only promising for the fabrication of "better" microneedles in the future but also inspiring for designing biomimetic structural biopolymers with ideal characteristics.
微针是一种微创设备，具有绕过生理屏障的独特能力。因此，它们被广泛应用于从药物/疫苗输送到诊断和美容领域的不同应用。最近，天然生物聚合物（特别是碳水化合物和蛋白质）作为安全和生物相容的材料受到关注，具有可定制的微针结构特性。已经有几篇评论文章涉及基于碳水化合物的微针。本综述旨在通过基于 PRISMA 指南的系统搜索策略，从国际数据库 PubMed、Science Direct、Scopus 和 Google Scholar 中突出蛋白质的较少被注意到的作用。收集标题中带有“微针(s)”关键字的英文原创文章，以及至少一个关键字“生物聚合物、丝、明胶、胶原、玉米醇溶蛋白、角蛋白、鱼鳞、贻贝和吸盘素”，筛选出蛋白质承担结构作用的文章。然后，我们专注于基于蛋白质的微针的结构和应用。此外，还回顾了一些蛋白质生物聚合物的独特特性，这些特性使它们成为微针构建的理想材料（例如，优异的机械强度、自粘性和自组装性），以及与之相关的挑战。总的来说，迄今为止确定的蛋白质不仅有望在未来制造“更好”的微针，而且还为设计具有理想特性的仿生结构生物聚合物提供了灵感。
