Park Cheolheon, Jeong Yunjin, Yeom Huiran, Song Seo Woo, Park Wook, Lee Daewon
Bio-MAX Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
Division of Data Science, The University of Suwon, Hwaseong 18323, Republic of Korea.
Biomicrofluidics. 2024 Apr 15;18(2):024109. doi: 10.1063/5.0200915. eCollection 2024 Mar.
This study presents an innovative solution for the enhanced tracking and security of pharmaceuticals through the development of microstructures incorporating environmentally responsive, coded microparticles. Utilizing maskless photolithography, we engineered these microparticles with a degradable masking layer with 30 m thickness that undergoes controlled dissolution. Quantitative analysis revealed that the protective layer's degradation, monitored by red fluorescence intensity, diminishes predictably over 144 h in phosphate-buffered saline under physiological conditions. This degradation not only confirms the microparticles' integrity but also allows the extraction of encoded information, which can serve as a robust indicator of medicinal shelf life and a deterrent to tampering. These findings indicate the potential for applying this technology in real-time monitoring of pharmaceuticals, ensuring quality and authenticity in the supply chain.
本研究通过开发包含环境响应编码微粒的微观结构，提出了一种用于增强药品追踪和安全性的创新解决方案。利用无掩膜光刻技术，我们设计了这些微粒，其具有厚度为30μm的可降解掩膜层，该掩膜层会发生可控溶解。定量分析表明，在生理条件下的磷酸盐缓冲盐水中，通过红色荧光强度监测的保护层降解在144小时内可预测地减少。这种降解不仅证实了微粒的完整性，还允许提取编码信息，该信息可作为药物保质期的有力指标以及防止篡改的威慑手段。这些发现表明了将该技术应用于药品实时监测的潜力，确保供应链中的质量和真实性。
