Fabrication and Characterization of Dissolving Microneedles Containing Lecithin for Transdermal Drug Delivery

Abstract

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.