Biodegradable Microneedles for Painless Drug Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current microneedle devices face challenges in delivering sufficient pharmaceutical or cosmetic agents to the skin due to the skin's barrier properties and often result in mechanical issues or adverse reactions, such as pain and bleeding, and the materials used, like metal or plastic, can be harmful if left in the body.
Innovation Solution
A microneedle device comprising a substrate with cone-shaped or pyramid-shaped microneedles made from biomaterials like chitosan, collagen, gelatin, or hyaluronic acid, which are designed to dissolve or swell in the body, providing mechanical strength and safety for skin insertion while allowing for the delivery of pharmaceutical or cosmetic agents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If microneedles are made from metal or plastic coated with pharmaceutical agents, then mechanical strength is improved, but safety deteriorates due to the risk of microneedles being left in the body causing adverse reactions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from non-biodegradable metal or plastic to biodegradable materials such as polysaccharides, proteins, or lipids. This parameter change allows the microneedles to maintain sufficient mechanical strength for skin penetration while automatically degrading into harmless byproducts that are safely eliminated from the body, eliminating the risk of adverse reactions from material retention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs disposable microneedles made from biodegradable materials that are designed to be used once and then naturally decomposed in the body. This approach replaces permanent metal or plastic microneedles with temporary, short-lived structures that fulfill their function and then safely disappear, preventing the harmful effect of material accumulation in the body.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If microneedles are made from water-soluble materials like maltose to improve safety, then mechanical strength deteriorates making insertion difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite material formulations combining biodegradable polymers, sugars, or amino acids with appropriate crosslinking agents or plasticizers. These composite structures provide the necessary mechanical strength for skin penetration while maintaining water solubility and biodegradability. The composite approach allows optimization of both strength and safety properties that cannot be achieved with single materials alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the physical and chemical parameters of water-soluble materials through controlled molecular weight selection, crosslinking degree adjustment, and formulation optimization. These parameter changes enhance the mechanical properties of inherently weak water-soluble materials like maltose or gelatin, making them sufficiently strong for microneedle applications while preserving their safety advantages of complete biodegradation and solubility.
3Ease of operation
If conventional formulations are applied to skin surface, then ease of application is improved, but delivery effectiveness deteriorates due to skin barrier properties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the pharmaceutical formulation into multiple microneedle units, each acting as an independent delivery channel through the skin barrier. This segmentation allows the formulation to bypass the intact skin barrier that prevents effective delivery of conventional surface applications, while maintaining ease of application through simple topical placement of the microneedle array.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical barrier penetration approach with a chemical dissolution mechanism. Instead of relying on mechanical force to push pharmaceutical agents through the skin barrier, the microneedles dissolve in situ at the application site, releasing pharmaceutical agents directly into the skin through chemical dissolution rather than mechanical penetration, thereby overcoming the skin barrier while maintaining ease of application.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The microneedle device effectively delivers agents to the desired skin site without pain or bleeding, dissolves or breaks off in the skin, and can contain a large quantity of agents, enhancing the delivery of both pharmaceuticals and cosmetics while avoiding material-related adverse effects.
Implementation Method 1
the needle is made of saccharide such as maltose which can dissolve and disappear in the body
Implementation Method 2
pharmaceutical agents are delivered to the skin with dissolution, swelling or breaking off of the needle in skin
Data Source
AI summary
Microneedle device is provided, which include microneedles that can be easily inserted into skin and dissolve or swell in skin. The microneedle devices comprise a substrate and cone-shaped or pyramid-shaped microneedles for skin insertion set on the substrate. The microneedles for skin insertion contain over 50 weight percent of one or multiple biomaterials chosen from chitosan, collagen, gelatin, hyaluronic acid, and they are fabricated from the materials that can dissolve or swell in the body.