Pharmaceutics (Oct 2020)

Effective Dispensing Methods for Loading Drugs Only to the Tip of DNA Microneedles

  • Moonjeong Bok,
  • Zhi-Jun Zhao,
  • Soon Hyoung Hwang,
  • Hyeok-Joong Kang,
  • Sohee Jeon,
  • Jiwoo Ko,
  • Jiwon Jeong,
  • Young Seok Song,
  • Eunju Lim,
  • Jun-Ho Jeong

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics12100954
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 10
p. 954

Abstract

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Here, we propose a novel and simple method to efficiently capture the diffusion of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-dextran from a biocompatible substance and load the drug only to the tip of DNA microneedles. A dispensing and suction method was chosen to fabricate the designed microneedles with efficient amounts of FITC as the drug model. Importantly, the vacuum process, which could influence the capturing of FITC diffusion from the tip, was evaluated during the manufacturing process. In addition, the simulations were consistent with the experimental results and showed apparent diffusion. Moreover, dextrans of different molecular weights labeled with FITC were chosen to fabricate the tip of microneedles for demonstrating their applicability. Finally, a micro-jetting system with a micro-nozzle (diameter: 80 μm) was developed to achieve the accurate and rapid loading of small amounts of FITC using the anti-diffusion and micro-jetting methods. Our method not only uses a simple and fast manufacturing process, but also fabricates the tips of microneedles more efficiently with FITC compared with the existing methods. We believe that the proposed method is essential for the clinical applications of the microneedle drug delivery platform.

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