Abstract
Microneedle (MN) technology is a rising star in the point-of-care (POC) field, which has gained increasing attention from scientists and clinics. MN-based POC devices show great potential for detecting various analytes of clinical interests and transdermal drug delivery in a minimally invasive manner owing to MNs’ micro-size sharp tips and ease of use. This review aims to go through the recent achievements in MN-based devices by investigating the selection of materials, fabrication techniques, classification, and application, respectively. We further highlight critical aspects of MN platforms for transdermal biofluids extraction, diagnosis, and drug delivery assisted disease therapy. Moreover, multifunctional MNs for stimulus-responsive drug delivery systems were discussed, which show incredible potential for accurate and efficient disease treatment in dynamic environments for a long period of time. In addition, we also discuss the remaining challenges and emerging trend of MN-based POC devices from the bench to the bedside.
Highlights
Wearable healthcare technologies cause significant consideration in publics and scientists, owing to the vast demand from medical laboratories and clinics [1,2]
Polymer materials currently in use can be classified into two categories: degradable materials (e.g., gelatin, silk fibroin, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), polyethylene glycol (PEG), polylactic acid (PLA), hyaluronic acid (HA), carboxymethyl cellulose, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), poly(glycolic acid) (PGA), and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)) and non-degradable materials (e.g., polyacrylic acid (PAA), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and polyvinyl methylvinyl ether (PMVE))
The etching method can be divided into wet etching and dry etching according to the etchant
Summary
Wearable healthcare technologies cause significant consideration in publics and scientists, owing to the vast demand from medical laboratories and clinics [1,2]. Wearable healthcare devices enable biological fluids to be treated and analyzed in the place near the patients, avoiding transporting the biological fluids to a specific laboratory or hospital [4]. People usually utilize sharp devices to pierce the stratum corneum for sampling physiological fluids or delivering drugs [10]. Microneedles (MNs) with micro-scale sizes (generally ranging from 25 to 2000 μm in height) have been emerging as minimally invasive devices for transdermal sensing, sampling, and molecule delivery [9,14,15,16]. MNs with micro-scale sharp protrusions can pierce the stratum corneum, resulting in painless access to dermal layers. Discussed, indicating that the MN-based devices are promising tools in clinical application
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