Microneedles for drug delivery into oral cavity

Transmucosal drug delivery has induced tremendous research interest in recent decades. Among the different mucosal surfaces in the body, oral cavity mucosa is easily accessible, greatly vascularised, and fast healing, all of which make it especially attractive as a drug and vaccine delivery route. In this doctoral thesis research, a methodology of applying microneedles into the oral cavity is established so that the benefits of microneedles can be extended to this anatomical region to achieve improved clinical effectiveness for various classes of drugs. Three applications are investigated: (1) The feasibility of microneedle-based vaccine delivery to the oral cavity has been explored, which is the first study of its kind to achieve oral immunity. (2) A doxorubicin-poly(lactic-co-gycolic) acid microparticle/microneedles combined drug delivery device has been developed. The device was designed to address poor treatment outcome of oral carcinomas. (3) Local anesthetic (lidocaine) has been coated on microneedles using a novel molten coating method. This study provides the first demonstration of obtaining coatings on microneedles using molten mixtures of water insoluble drugs, and the approach has potential for oral and transdermal delivery of numerous classes of water insoluble drugs including anesthetics and anti-tumor drugs.

This dissertation won 1st Place in the Texas Tech University Outstanding Thesis and Dissertation Award, Mathematics, Physical Sciences & Engineering, 2014.

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