Next idea - microneedle dermal roller. These things are pretty cheap on ebay and from the studies on pubmed they increase the effectiveness of a transdermal considerably.
Effect of applying modes of the polymer microneedle-roller on the permeation of l-ascorbic acid in rats.
You SK, Noh YW, Park HH, Han M, Lee SS, Shin SC, Cho CW.
College of Pharmacy and Institute of Drug Research and Development, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea.
Despite the advantages of drug delivery through skin, transdermal drug delivery is only used with a small subset of drugs because most compounds cannot cross the skin at therapeutically useful rates. Recently, a new concept known as microneedle was introduced and could be used to pierce effectively to deliver drugs using micron-sized needles in a minimally invasive and painless manner. In this study, the polymer microneedle-roller was fabricated so that it can be applied into the permeation of l-ascorbic acid. Moreover, a recent publication suggested the possibility of ascorbic acid 2-phosphate as a hair restorer; hence, this study was carried out to check the effect of l-ascorbic acid itself on the hair growing rate in rats according to the presence of various application frequencies of the polymer microneedle-roller. When the polymer microneedle-roller was applied nine times with four directions into rat's shaved skin, the permeation of l-ascorbic acid increased by 10.54-fold compared to that of the absence of the polymer microneedle-roller. The histological examination revealed that the skin pretreated with various application frequencies of the polymer microneedle-roller had more transport pathways. The faster hair growing phenomenon was observed in the presence of polymer microneedle-roller compared to the absence of the polymer microneedle-roller.
Effect of microneedle on the pharmacokinetics of ketoprofen from its transdermal formulations.
So JW, Park HH, Lee SS, Kim DC, Shin SC, Cho CW.
College of Pharmacy, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea.
Non-invasive transdermal delivery using microneedle arrays was recently introduced to deliver a variety of large and hydrophilic compounds into the skin, including proteins and DNA. In this study, a microneedle array was applied to the delivery of a hydrophobic drug, ketoprofen, to determine if transdermal delivery in rats can be improved without the need for permeation enhancers. The ability of a microneedle to increase the skin permeability of ketoprofen was tested using the following procedure. A microneedle array was inserted into the lower back skin of a rat using a clip for 10 min. Subsequently, 24 mg/kg of a ketoprofen gel was loaded on the same site where the microneedle had been applied. Simultaneously, the microneedle was coated with 24 mg/kg of a ketoprofen gel, and inserted into the skin using a clip for 10 min. As a negative control experiment, only 24 mg/kg of the ketoprofen gel was applied to the shaved lower back of a rat. Blood samples were taken at the indicated times. The plasma concentration (C(p)) was obtained as a function of time (t), and the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated using the BE program. The group loaded with the microneedle coated with ketoprofen gel showed a 1.86-fold and 2.86-fold increase in the AUC and C((max)) compared with the ketoprofen gel alone group. These results suggest that a microneedle can be an ideal tool for transdermal delivery products.
