A Comparison of Flow- and Pressure-Controlled Infusion Strategies for Microneedle-based Transdermal Drug Delivery

Microneedle-based transdermal drug delivery is considered an attractive alternative to conventional injections using hypodermic needles due to its minimally invasive and painless nature; this has the potential to improve patient adherence to medication regimens. Hollow microneedles (MNs) are sharp,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sebastian, Ryan, Guillerm, Theo, Tjulkins, Fjodors, Hu, Yuan, Clover, A. James P., Lyness, Alexander, O'Mahony, Conor
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Clinical Relevance- This work experimentally demonstrates that flow driven infusion may be a superior control strategy for transdermal delivery using hollow microneedle arrays
Drug delivery
Electric potential
Hypodermic needles
Minimally invasive surgery
Sensor systems
Silicon
Skin
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Summary:Microneedle-based transdermal drug delivery is considered an attractive alternative to conventional injections using hypodermic needles due to its minimally invasive and painless nature; this has the potential to improve patient adherence to medication regimens. Hollow microneedles (MNs) are sharp, sub-millimeter protrusions with a channel that serves as a fluidic interface with the skin. This technology could be coupled with micro-pumps, embedded sensors, actuators and electronics to create Micro Transdermal Interface Platforms - smart, wearable infusion systems capable of delivering precise microdoses over a prolonged period. Using 500 µm tall hollow microneedles, ex-vivo human skin and a customized application/retraction device, this work focuses on comparing two infusion control strategies, namely 'set pressure' (SP) and 'set flow' (SF) infusion. It was found that flow-controlled infusion was capable of delivering higher volumes than pressure-driven delivery, and a mean volume of 3.8 mL was delivered using a set flowrate of 50 µL/minute. This suggests that flow driven delivery is a better control strategy and confirms that MN array retraction is beneficial for transdermal MN infusion.
ISSN:2694-0604
DOI:10.1109/EMBC48229.2022.9871582