Potential of biodegradable microneedles as a transdermal delivery vehicle for lidocaine

Abstract

There has been an increasing interest in applying biotechnology in formulating and characterising new and innovative drug delivery methods, e.g., drug-loaded biodegradable microneedles within the area of transdermal delivery technology. Recently, microneedles have been proposed for use in pain management, e.g., post-operative pain management through delivery of a local anaesthetic, namely, lidocaine. Lidocaine is a fairly common, marketed prescription-based local anaesthetic pharmaceutical, applied for relieving localised pain and lidocaine-loaded microneedles have been explored. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the properties of biodegradable polymers that may allow the preparation of microneedle systems, methods of preparing them and pharmacokinetic conditions in considering the potential use of lidocaine for delivery through the skin.

Microneedles for drug delivery: trends and progress

“…There have been several types of polymer MNs that have been created to overcome the non-biocompatible and nonbiodegradable properties of metal and silicon MNs (Park et al, 2005;Hong et al, 2013;Lee et al, 2013;Nayak & Das, 2013). The biodegradable MNs were fabricated using a lithographic approach.…”

Lidocaine permeation from a lidocaine NaCMC/gel microgel formulation in microneedle-pierced skin: vertical (depth averaged) and horizontal permeation profiles

“…As a drug delivery method, MNs have been reviewed significantly in the literature and therefore they are not discussed in length in this paper [22][23][24]. The MNs can be constructed from silicon, metals or polymers [9,22,25].…”

“…The MNs can be constructed from silicon, metals or polymers [9,22,25]. In principle, they should pierce past the SC layer to form micro cavities in skin before drug application or pre-loaded with drugs at the point of application.…”

Potential of microneedle-assisted micro-particle delivery by gene guns: a review

“…Polymeric materials are a cheap option which can exhibit biocompatibility and biodegradability, but the hardness is generally lower (Park et al, 2005;Han et al, 2007;Oh et al, 2008;Nayak & Das, 2013). Various types of polymer have been used for fabricating MNs, such as poly-glycolic acid (PGA; Park et al, 2006Park et al, , 2005 Hollow MN arrays are normally used for fluid infusion of liquid drug and nanoparticles into the skin (Han et al, 2008).…”