Porous Microneedles for Therapy and Diagnosis: Fabrication and Challenges.

The use of microneedles (MNs), an innovative transdermal technology, enables efficient, convenient, painless, and controlled-release drug delivery. Porous microneedles (pMNs), special MNs with abundant interconnected pores that can produce capillary action, are gaining increasing attention as a novel MNs technology. pMNs can actively adsorb bioactive ingredients from solutions of drugs or vaccines for in vivo delivery or from interstitial skin fluids (ISFs) for wearable and point-of-care testing (POCT) products. Different pore sizes and porosities of pMNs can be achieved with different materials and preparation processes, which makes the application of pMNs adaptable to multiple scenarios. In addition, easier and faster detection will be accomplished by the smart combination of pMNs with other detection technologies. This paper aims to summarize the recent research progress of pMNs, focusing on the influence of various materials and their corresponding preparation methods on its structure and function display, discussing the key issues and looking forward to the future development.

Bioimaging of Dissolvable Microneedle Arrays: Challenges and Opportunities.

The emergence of microneedle arrays (MNAs) as a novel, simple, and minimally invasive administration approach largely addresses the challenges of traditional drug delivery. In particular, the dissolvable MNAs act as a promising, multifarious, and well-controlled platform for micro-nanotransport in medical research and cosmetic formulation applications. The effective delivery mostly depends on the behavior of the MNAs penetrated into the body, and accurate assessment is urgently needed. Advanced imaging technologies offer high sensitivity and resolution visualization of cross-scale, multidimensional, and multiparameter information, which can be used as an important aid for the evaluation and development of new MNAs. The combination of MNA technology and imaging can generate considerable new knowledge in a cost-effective manner with regards to the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of active substances for the treatment of various diseases. In addition, noninvasive imaging techniques allow rapid, receptive assessment of transdermal penetration and drug deposition in various tissues, which could greatly facilitate the translation of experimental MNAs into clinical application. Relying on the recent promising development of bioimaging, this review is aimed at summarizing the current status, challenges, and future perspective on in vivo assessment of MNA drug delivery by various imaging technologies.