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Chemical Communications (Cambridge,... Mar 2023The advancement and popularity of transdermal drug delivery (TDD) based on the physical transdermal enhancement technique (PTET) has opened a new paradigm for local... (Review)
Review
The advancement and popularity of transdermal drug delivery (TDD) based on the physical transdermal enhancement technique (PTET) has opened a new paradigm for local tumor treatment. The drug can be directly delivered to the tumor site through the skin, thus avoiding the toxic side effects caused by the first-pass effect and achieving high patient compliance. Further development of PTETs has provided many options for antitumor drugs and laid the foundation for future applications of wearable closed-loop targeting drug delivery systems. In this highlight, the different types of PTETs and related mechanisms, and applications of PTET-related tumor detection and therapy are highlighted. According to their type and characteristics, PTETs are categorized as follows: (1) iontophoresis, (2) electroporation, (3) ultrasound, (4) thermal ablation, and (5) microneedles. PTET-related applications in the local treatment of tumors are categorized as follows: (1) melanoma, (2) breast tumor, (3) squamous cell carcinoma, (4) cervical tumor, and (5) others. The challenges and future prospects of existing PTETs are also discussed. This highlight will provide guidance for the design of PTET-based wearable closed-loop targeting drug delivery systems and personalized therapy for tumors.
Topics: Humans; Administration, Cutaneous; Drug Delivery Systems; Iontophoresis; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Skin; Skin Absorption; Microinjections
PubMed: 36815500
DOI: 10.1039/d2cc06219d -
Therapeutic Delivery Jan 2021Microneedle (MN)-based technologies are currently one of the most innovative approaches that are being extensively investigated for transdermal delivery of low molecular... (Review)
Review
Microneedle (MN)-based technologies are currently one of the most innovative approaches that are being extensively investigated for transdermal delivery of low molecular weight drugs, biotherapeutic agents and vaccines. Extensive research reports, describing the fabrication and applications of different types of MNs, can be readily found in the literature. Effective characterization tools to evaluate the quality and performance of the MNs as well as for determination of the dimensional and kinetic properties of the microchannels created in the skin, are an essential and critical part of MN-based research. This review paper provides a comprehensive account of all such tools and techniques.
Topics: Administration, Cutaneous; Drug Delivery Systems; Microinjections; Needles; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Skin
PubMed: 33410340
DOI: 10.4155/tde-2020-0096 -
Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews Mar 2018Conventional systematically-administered drugs distribute evenly throughout the body, get degraded and excreted rapidly while crossing many biological barriers, leaving... (Review)
Review
Conventional systematically-administered drugs distribute evenly throughout the body, get degraded and excreted rapidly while crossing many biological barriers, leaving minimum amounts of the drugs at pathological sites. Controlled drug delivery aims to deliver drugs to the target sites at desired rates and time, thus enhancing the drug efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and bioavailability while maintaining minimal side effects. Due to a number of unique advantages of the recent microfluidic lab-on-a-chip technology, microfluidic lab-on-a-chip has provided unprecedented opportunities for controlled drug delivery. Drugs can be efficiently delivered to the target sites at desired rates in a well-controlled manner by microfluidic platforms via integration, implantation, localization, automation, and precise control of various microdevice parameters. These features accordingly make reproducible, on-demand, and tunable drug delivery become feasible. On-demand self-tuning dynamic drug delivery systems have shown great potential for personalized drug delivery. This review presents an overview of recent advances in controlled drug delivery using microfluidic platforms. The review first briefly introduces microfabrication techniques of microfluidic platforms, followed by detailed descriptions of numerous microfluidic drug delivery systems that have significantly advanced the field of controlled drug delivery. Those microfluidic systems can be separated into four major categories, namely drug carrier-free micro-reservoir-based drug delivery systems, highly integrated carrier-free microfluidic lab-on-a-chip systems, drug carrier-integrated microfluidic systems, and microneedles. Microneedles can be further categorized into five different types, i.e. solid, porous, hollow, coated, and biodegradable microneedles, for controlled transdermal drug delivery. At the end, we discuss current limitations and future prospects of microfluidic platforms for controlled drug delivery.
Topics: Drug Delivery Systems; Humans; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques; Microinjections; Needles
PubMed: 28919029
DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2017.09.013 -
European Journal of Pharmaceutics and... Jul 2019Since the first patent for microneedles was filed in the 1970s, research on utilising microneedles as a drug delivery system has progressed significantly. In addition to... (Review)
Review
Since the first patent for microneedles was filed in the 1970s, research on utilising microneedles as a drug delivery system has progressed significantly. In addition to the extensive research on microneedles for improving transdermal drug delivery, there is a growing interest in using these devices to manage dermatological conditions. This review aims to provide the background on microneedles, the clinical benefits, and challenges of the device along with the potential dermatological conditions that may benefit from the application of such a drug delivery system. The first part of the review provides an outline on benefits and challenges of translating microneedle-based drug delivery systems into clinical practice. The second part of the review covers the application of microneedles in treating dermatological conditions. The efficacy of microneedles along with the limitations of such a strategy to treat diseased skin shall be addressed.
Topics: Administration, Cutaneous; Animals; Dermatology; Drug Delivery Systems; Humans; Microinjections; Needles; Skin
PubMed: 31059780
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpb.2019.05.001 -
Development, Growth & Differentiation Dec 2021Anemonefish, including the false clownfish Amphiprion ocellaris, are attractive model organisms because of their unique features, such as sex change and brilliant color...
Anemonefish, including the false clownfish Amphiprion ocellaris, are attractive model organisms because of their unique features, such as sex change and brilliant color patterns in mutants. However, anemonefish are not widely used to study gene function using reverse genetic approaches owing to microinjection difficulties and subsequent rearing and hatching of embryos without parental care. A. ocellaris embryos are spawned on a hard substrate and cared for by their parents until hatching. However, the eggs need to be detached from the substrate and raised without their parents to perform successful microinjection. We established a method to culture and hatch A. ocellaris embryos without spawning substrates or parental care. We found that changing water and generating water flow are critical for culturing the embryos, and that water flow (as physical stimulation) and complete darkness in the dark period are necessary for successful hatching. We further investigated the effectiveness of microinjection into the yolk sac of fertilized eggs rather than into the cytoplasm, which makes microinjection easier. A reporter RNA injected into the yolk sac was transferred to the cytoplasm and translated, indicating that yolk sac microinjection is an efficient alternative as has been used for zebrafish. These findings highlight the potential of A. ocellaris as an experimental model organism for reverse genetics, and our methods could be applied to other anemonefish species.
Topics: Animals; Microinjections; Perciformes; Zebrafish
PubMed: 34786704
DOI: 10.1111/dgd.12759 -
Journal of Controlled Release :... Jul 2022Dissolvable transdermal microneedles (μND) are promising micro-devices used to transport a wide selection of active compounds into the skin. To provide an effective... (Review)
Review
Dissolvable transdermal microneedles (μND) are promising micro-devices used to transport a wide selection of active compounds into the skin. To provide an effective therapeutic outcome, μNDs must pierce the human stratum corneum (~10 to 20 μm), without rupturing or bending during penetration, then release their cargo at the predetermined area and time. The ability of dissolvable μND arrays/patches to sufficiently pierce the skin is a crucial requirement, which depends on the material composition, μND geometry and fabrication techniques. This comprehensive review not only provides contemporary knowledge on the μND design approaches, but also the materials science facilitating these delivery systems and the opportunities these advanced materials can provide to enhance clinical outcomes.
Topics: Administration, Cutaneous; Drug Delivery Systems; Humans; Microinjections; Needles; Polymers; Skin
PubMed: 35525331
DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2022.04.043 -
Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton,... 2024The process of transferring Wolbachia from one species to another to establish a stable, maternally inherited infection in the target species is known as transinfection....
The process of transferring Wolbachia from one species to another to establish a stable, maternally inherited infection in the target species is known as transinfection. The success of transinfection is primarily achieved through embryonic microinjection, which is the most direct and efficient means of delivering Wolbachia into the germline of the target species and establishing stable maternal transmission. For the fundamental studies, transinfection is often used to characterize Wolbachia-host interactions, including Wolbachia host range, the role of host or bacterial factors in symbiosis, and evolution of Wolbachia-host associations. For the applied studies, use of transinfection to generate a novel infection in the target species is the first step to build the weapon for both population replacement and population suppression for controlling insect pests or their transmitted diseases. For the primary dengue vector Aedes aegypti and Anopheles vectors of malaria, which either do not naturally carry Wolbachia or are infected with strains that lack necessary features for implementation, transinfection can be established by introducing a novel strain capable of inducing both cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) and pathogen blocking. For A. albopictus and Culex mosquito species, which naturally harbor CI-inducing Wolbachia, transinfection can be achieved by either introducing a novel strain to generate superinfection or replacing the native infection with a different Wolbachia strain in a symbiont-free line, which is derived from antibiotic treatment of the wild type. Here, we use A. aegypti as an example to describe the Wolbachia transinfection method, which can be adapted to other insect species, such as planthoppers, according to their specific developmental requirements.
Topics: Animals; Mosquito Vectors; Wolbachia; Microinjections; Cytoplasm; Cytosol; Aedes; Insecta
PubMed: 38006552
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3553-7_11 -
Journal of Visualized Experiments : JoVE Mar 2023The cerebral cortex is the outermost brain structure and is responsible for the processing of sensory input and motor output; it is seen as the seat of higher-order...
The cerebral cortex is the outermost brain structure and is responsible for the processing of sensory input and motor output; it is seen as the seat of higher-order cognitive abilities in mammals, in particular, primates. Studying gene functions in primate brains is challenging due to technical and ethical reasons, but the establishment of the brain organoid technology has enabled the study of brain development in traditional primate models (e.g., rhesus macaque and common marmoset), as well as in previously experimentally inaccessible primate species (e.g., great apes), in an ethically justifiable and less technically demanding system. Moreover, human brain organoids allow the advanced investigation of neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders. As brain organoids recapitulate many processes of brain development, they also represent a powerful tool to identify differences in, and to functionally compare, the genetic determinants underlying the brain development of various species in an evolutionary context. A great advantage of using organoids is the possibility to introduce genetic modifications, which permits the testing of gene functions. However, the introduction of such modifications is laborious and expensive. This paper describes a fast and cost-efficient approach to genetically modify cell populations within the ventricle-like structures of primate cerebral organoids, a subtype of brain organoids. This method combines a modified protocol for the reliable generation of cerebral organoids from human-, chimpanzee-, rhesus macaque-, and common marmoset-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with a microinjection and electroporation approach. This provides an effective tool for the study of neurodevelopmental and evolutionary processes that can also be applied for disease modeling.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Macaca mulatta; Callithrix; Microinjections; Brain; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells; Electroporation; Organoids; Mammals
PubMed: 37036224
DOI: 10.3791/65176 -
Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery Mar 2018During the past two decades, many studies have documented the development of microneedles (MNs) as a feasible technique for the effective administration of drugs. More... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
During the past two decades, many studies have documented the development of microneedles (MNs) as a feasible technique for the effective administration of drugs. More and more human studies have been done with MNs to bridge the gap between research and market applications that provide efficacious techniques for clinical implementation.
AREAS COVERED
The aim of this review is provide a brief description of the status of human study with MNs and to demonstrate progress for the right use of microneedle arrays in clinical settings. It also describes the considerations for clinical application with each type of MNs.
EXPERT OPINION
Microneedle systems were introduced to overcome the limitations of conventional methods of drug administration. Lots of microneedle systems have undergone clinical evaluation to determine their efficacy and safety, and many studies have demonstrated positive results. The successful clinical use of the microneedle in vaccine therapy is remarkable and supports the importance of conducting further tests in a wide range of medical applications. Self-administered MNs appeared to be an attractive alternative method that needs further research to become a reality in the near future.
Topics: Administration, Cutaneous; Animals; Drug Delivery Systems; Humans; Microinjections; Needles; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Vaccines
PubMed: 29169288
DOI: 10.1080/17425247.2018.1410138 -
Journal of Drug Targeting Apr 2020Transdermal drug delivery (TDD) is an alternative method of drug administration for drugs whose delivery by conventional oral, topical, intravenous and intramuscular... (Review)
Review
Transdermal drug delivery (TDD) is an alternative method of drug administration for drugs whose delivery by conventional oral, topical, intravenous and intramuscular methods is of limited efficacy. Recent advances in TDD involve the use of nanoparticles (NPs), which exhibit a great potential to enhance drug permeation across the skin. NPs can also provide controlled release, the ability to deliver both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs and reduce side effects, and when used in a TDD method they are also non-invasive. Another developing technology for TDD employs skin patches containing microneedles. Microneedles represent a painless and minimally invasive method of TDD in which micron-sized pores are created in the epidermis to allow delivery of drugs to the blood vessels present in the dermal layer of the skin. New researches have focussed on combining different TDD approaches to overcome previous constraints of drug delivery conventional methods.
Topics: Administration, Cutaneous; Delayed-Action Preparations; Drug Delivery Systems; Humans; Microinjections; Nanoparticles; Nanostructures; Needles; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Skin; Skin Absorption; Technology
PubMed: 31851847
DOI: 10.1080/1061186X.2019.1693579