A transdermal drug delivery (TDD) system has been an attractive method to delivery needed drug into our bodies directly with few side effect, and electroosmotic flow (EOF) is known as the method to enhance TDD and even the extraction of interstitial fluid (ISF) which contains biomarkers such as glucose. The limitation of these transdermal penetration/extraction arises from stratum corneum (SC), an outermost layer of skin. SC is highly resistive and functions as a barrier for harmful molecules, which makes it difficult to apply direct currents to the skin by mild and safe voltage and to deliver larger molecular drugs (>600 Da) into the skin. The microneedle array (MNA) is one of the promising approaches to break through SC without pain, and solve problems of the electrical and the drug pass. Recently, we have realized organic polymer-based porous microneedles (PMN) made of poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) which were prepared by the combination of molding process and the porogen method. In this study, we developed a PMN inducing the EOF for efficient TDD and extraction of ISF (Figure 1a). Furthermore, in order to enhance efficiency in the induction of the EOF, negatively-charged hydrogel was embedded in the porous channels of the PMN.
展开▼
