Biocompatible optical needle array for antibacterial blue light therapy

摘要

Biocompatible Optical Needle Array (BONA) is showing to be a powerful tool complementing the novel antibacterial blue light therapy. BONA is able to deliver light to deeper skin tissue layers successfully as shown in experiments. In this study, we will discuss BONA's design, mechanical and optical properties, production method, plus propose improvements to optimize it all. A special skin phantom with photosensitizer was developed in order to investigate how light is delivered inside the tissue. The phantom shows the light scattering pattern through photobleach, allowing us to determine length, thickness and spacing between needles. Other quantitative optical properties as penetration depth were determined using a different phantom (using PDMS). Mechanical properties as needle resistance were determined using one axis of a custom biaxial tensile strain device. The results led us to conclude that besides the great results, there is still room for improvements regarding tip sharpness and manufacturing time and cost, which would be solved with the enhanced fabrication method proposed.