Microneedle - Future prospect for efficient drug delivery in diabetes management

Abstract

This review aims at focusing on the use of microneedles (MNs) as an emerging novel drug delivery carrier for an effective treatment in diabetic patients. There are many limitations in various modes of delivery such as oral, subcutaneous, nasal, and other modes which cause pain and have many other side effects. Hence, this drug delivery research has found to have tremendous potential in combining both the diagnostic and therapeutic elements, thus treating diabetes in a better way. Most glucose-sensing techniques and conventional insulin therapies are engaged in the transfer of physical entities through the skin. MN- based drug delivery system can accomplish in an noninvasive or minimally invasive manner which can be an add on advantage towards pain-free administration, easy handling, discrete, continuous as well as providing a controlled release system. Hence, the review addresses on the current advancement of this bioengineered system like MNs, constituting a "smart" system specifically for autonomous diabetes therapy.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; diabetic management; microneedle; skin; transdermal drug delivery.

Figure 1

Physical barrier and a receiver of peripheral stimuli are the two main functions of the skin, which is mainly divided into three layers; the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis or subcutaneous tissue, as described in . Anatomy of skin