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Development and Validation of an Artificial Mechanical Skin Model for the Study of Interactions between Skin and Microneedles
Author(s) -
Ranamukhaarachchi Sahan A.,
Schneider Thomas,
Lehnert Sarah,
Sprenger Lisa,
Campbell Jonathon R.,
Mansoor Iman,
Lai Jacqueline C. Y.,
Rai Kimit,
Dutz Jan,
Häfeli Urs O.,
Stoeber Boris
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201500320
Subject(s) - stratum corneum , materials science , biomedical engineering , human skin , artificial skin , nanotechnology , drug delivery , medicine , pathology , biology , genetics
Microneedles are small needle‐like structures that are almost invisible to the naked eye. They have an immense potential to serve as a valuable tool in many medical applications, such as painless vaccination. Microneedles work by breaking through the stratum corneum, the outermost barrier layer of the skin, and providing a direct path for drug delivery into the skin. A lot of research has been presented over the past two decades on the applications of microneedles, yet the fundamental mechanism of how they interact, pressure, and penetrate the skin in its native state is worth examining further. As such, a major difficulty with understanding the mechanism of microneedle–skin interaction is the lack of an artificial mechanical human skin model to use as a standardized substrate. In this research news, the development of an artificial mechanical skin model based on a thorough mechanical study of fresh human and porcine skin samples is presented. The artificial mechanical skin model can be used to study the mechanical interactions between microneedles and skin, but not diffusion of molecules across skin. This model can assist in improving the performance of microneedles by enhancing the reproducibility of microneedle depth insertions for optimal drug delivery and biosensing.