Abstract

A REVIEW ON MICRONEEDLES: RECENT ADVANCEMENTS AND ITS APPLICATION

*Gourav Singh, Prasanta Kumar Biswal, and Surya Narayan Das

Abstract

In comparison to other drug delivery system the novel drug delivery system has various advantages and benefits over other drug delivery system. The drug delivered through the novel drug delivery system does not undergo first pass metabolism due to which there is zero chance of irritation of gastro intestinal tract as well as the large amount of drug can easily be absorbed into systemic circulation because when the drug undergoes first pass metabolism some amount of drug gets metabolised but in case of novel drug delivery system it does not occur. In case of transdermal drug delivery system there is a one major disadvantage that is the resistance created by the stratum corneum to The drug flow to the systemic circulation. Here what happens when the drug is applied trans dermally the stratum corneum act as barrier for the drug flow from the skin to the systemic circulation. To overcome this major disadvantage of the transdermal drug delivery system, there started a development of another type of novel drug delivery system namely “Microneedle Drug Delivery System” In microneedle drug delivery System, the drug is delivered by micron sized needles which get penetrated into the skin. So, That the drug can easily be delivered. In this case when the microneedle containing drug is penetrated into skin it crosses the uppermost layer of skin known as Stratum corneum. As the microneedles are in micron sized it crosses the Stratum corneum and delivers the drug to the epidermis and upper dermis layer. As we know that the lower art of the dermis contains the nerve endings and the microneedle delivers the drug to the epidermis and the upper dermis layer. Hence it does not create any major pain and also does not harm any healthy tissue during the penetration of the microneedles into the skin. So, this advancement of microneedle drug delivery system in the field of pharmacy was boon for the society. This microneedle has various advantages and benefits over the transdermal drug delivery system like it does not harm the healthy tissue, there is less chance of microbial attack, it is patient compliable, it does undergo first pass metabolism, it is almost painless and having no other side effects. The microneedles are mainly classified into – Solid Microneedles, Coated Microneedles, Dissolving Microneedles, Hollow Microneedles and Hydrogel forming microneedles. This article also contains the descriptive information about the fabrication materials as well as the different fabrication methods. Each method is identical for the particular type of material used for the production of microneedles. This review article contains a brief information about the microneedle drug delivery system and its importance in the present scenario. It also contains a descriptive and detailed information about the researches which were done in the field of microneedles as well its different fabrication technique used for the manufacture of the microneedles. Although a lot of research work need to be done for more improvement and advancement in the drug delivery through microneedles.

Keywords: Solid Microneedles, Coated Microneedles, Dissolving Microneedles.