• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.429-434
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• 2021

The feasibility of lecithin as a material for dissolving microneedles to improve skin permeability of drugs and the effect of the composition of lecithin on the mechanical strength, solubility, and skin permeability of rhodamine B (RhB) of the dissolving microneedles were investigated. Dissolving microneedles with needles of uniform shape and size were fabricated with the mold made using the laser-writing technique, simpler and more efficient method compared to the photolithography method, the conventional method to fabricate the microneedle mold. The composition of lecithin in the microneedle affected the mechanical strength and solubility of the needle thus, the mechanical strength of the needle increased as the composition of lecithin in the needle increased, resulting in improving the skin permeability of RhB contained in the microneedles. When comparing the microneedles containing same composition of amylopectin (AP), the skin permeability of RhB of the microneedles containing lecithin was higher. These results indicate that lecithin can be used as a material for dissolving microneedles and the skin permeability of the microneedle could be controlled by changing the composition of lecithin.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.411.1-411.1
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• 2014

This study evaluates the utility of an antibacterial microneedle composed of green tea extract (GT) and hyaluronic acid (HA), for the efficient delivery of GT. These microneedles have the potential to be a patient-friendly method for the conventional sustained release of drugs. In this study, a fabrication method using a mold-based technique to produce GT/HA microneedles with a maximum area of ${\sim}60mm^2$ with antibacterial properties was used to manufacture transdermal drug delivery systems. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry was carried out to observe the potential modifications in the microneedles, when incorporated with GT. The degradation rate of GT in GT/HA microneedles was controlled simply by adjusting the HA composition. The effects of different ratios of GT in the HA microneedles were determined by measuring the release properties. In HA microneedles loaded with 70% GT (GT70), a continuous higher release rate were sustained for 72 h. The in vitro cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that GT/HA microneedles are not generally cytotoxic to chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO-K1), human embryonic kidney cells (293T), and mouse muscle cells (C2C12), which were treated for 12 and 24 h. Antimicrobial activity of the GT/HA microneedles was demonstrated by ~95% growth reduction of gram negative [Escherichia coli (E. coli), Pseudomonas putida (P. putida) and Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium)] and gram positive bacteria [Staphylococcus aureus (S. Aureus) and Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis)], with GT70. Furthermore, GT/HA microneedles reduced bacterial growth in the infected skin wound sites and improved skin wound healing process in rat model.