Design, Fabrication and Analysis of Silicon Hollow Microneedles for Transdermal Drug Delivery System for Treatment of Hemodynamic Dysfunctions

Abstract

In this paper, we present design, fabrication and coupled multifield analysis of hollow out-of-plane silicon microneedles with piezoelectrically actuated microfluidic device for transdermal drug delivery (TDD) system for treatment of cardiovascular or hemodynamic disorders such as hypertension. The mask layout design and fabrication process of silicon microneedles and reservoir involving deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) is first presented. This is followed by actual fabrication of silicon hollow microneedles by a series of combined isotropic and anisotropic etching processes using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching technology. Then coupled multifield analysis of a MEMS based piezoelectrically actuated device with integrated silicon microneedles is presented. The coupledfield analysis of hollow silicon microneedle array integrated with piezoelectric micropump has involved structural and fluid field couplings in a sequential structural-fluid analysis on a three-dimensional model of the microfluidic device. The effect of voltage and frequency on silicon membrane deflection and flow rate through the microneedle is investigated in the coupled field analysis using multiple code coupling method. The results of the present study provide valuable benchmark and prediction data to fabricate optimized designs of the silicon hollow microneedle based microfluidic devices for transdermal drug delivery applications.

Microneedles: an emerging transdermal drug delivery system

“…Reproduced with permission from Elsevier. [8] [26] Polylactic acid (PLA) [27] Polyvinyl acetate (PVA) [18] Thermoplastic starch [28] Stainless steel [29] Polyglycolic acid (PGA) [27] Alginic acid [18] Carboxymethylcellulose [30] Titanium 19 Polylactide-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) [27] Gantrez AN-139, a copolymer of methylvinylether and maleic anhydride (PMVE/MA) [18] Amylopectin [30] Mesoporous silicon [31] Polycarbonate [16] Carbopol 971 P-NF 18 Dextran, galactose, chondroitin sulfate [32] Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) [33] Polyetherimide [34] Maltose [35] Microneedles: an emerging drug delivery Shital H. Bariya et al…”

“…[81,82] Ashraf et al designed a microfluidic drug delivery device with an electronic module, sensor for blood pressure and flow, and drug delivery device as its main components. [26] The system automatically injected the desired drug dose through microneedles at a controlled rate on sensing an increase in blood pressure.…”

Hydrogel Microneedle Arrays for Transdermal Drug Delivery

“…Hollow MNs usually require very precise and high cost manufacturing technology, which prevent them from large scale production [26]. In this approach, large scale reproduction with low costs is pursued sometimes based on self-assembly and molding of soft materials.…”

Simulation and fabrication of blood filtration system for patients with kidney diseases

“…High aspect ratio microneedles have been developed for blood sampling [13]. Fabrication of silicon microneedles and simulation of microfluidic device with piezoelectric actuation mechanism have been reported for transdermal drug delivery [14]. Hollow microneedles have been developed by using SU-8 fabrication technique for transdermal drug delivery and blood extraction [15].…”

“…Donnelly et al [18] reported polymeric microneedles for intradermal delivery. Waseem et al [14] developed silicon microneeldes and conducted structural analysis by applying force of 8.5 N on microneedle. Stress of 6.78 GPa was observed on microneedle.…”