Influence of the delivery systems using a microneedle array on the permeation of a hydrophilic molecule, calcein

Jae Ho Oh, Hyoun Hyang Park, Ki Young Do, Manhee Han, Dong Hun Hyun, Chang Gyu Kim, Chang Hyeon Kim, Seung S. Lee, Sung Joo Hwang, Sang Chul Shin, Cheong Weon Cho

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

111 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Despite the advantages of drug delivery through the skin, such as easy accessibility, convenience, prolonged therapy, avoidance of the liver first-pass metabolism and a large surface area, transdermal drug delivery is only used with a small subset of drugs because most compounds cannot cross the skin at therapeutically useful rates. Recently, a new concept was introduced known as microneedles and these could be pierced to effectively deliver drugs using micron-sized needles in a minimally invasive and painless manner. In this study, biocompatible polycarbonate (PC) microneedle arrays with various depths (200 and 500 μm) and densities (45, 99 and 154 ea/cm2) were fabricated using a micro-mechanical process. The skin permeability of a hydrophilic molecule, calcein (622.5D), was examined according to the delivery systems of microneedle, drug loading, depth of the PC microneedle, and density of the PC microneedle. The skin permeability of calcein was the highest when the calcein gel was applied to the skin with the 500 μm-depth PC microneedle, simultaneously. In addition, the skin permeability of calcein was the highest when 0.1 g of calcein gel was coupled to the 500 μm-depth PC microneedle (154 ea/cm2) as well as longer microneedles and larger density of microneedles. Taken together, this study suggests that a biocompatible PC microneedle might be a suitable tool for transdermal drug delivery system of hydrophilic molecules with the possible applications to macromolecules such as proteins and peptides.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1040-1045
Number of pages6
JournalEuropean Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics
Volume69
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2008 Aug

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was financially supported by the research fund of Chungnam National University in 2006.

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Biotechnology
  • Pharmaceutical Science

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