Dissolving microneedles for brain delivery: Recent advances and challenges

Kolekar KA 1 , Kumbhar PS 2 , Vishwas S 1 , Dua K 3 , Singh SK 4

Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab 144411, India
  • 2 Department of Pharmaceutics, Tatyasaheb Kore College of Pharmacy, Warananagar, Panhala, Kolhapur, Maharashtra 416113, India
  • 3 Discipline of Pharmacy, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia; Faculty of Health, Australian Research Centre in Complementary & Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
  • 4 School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab 144411, India; Sunway Biofunctional Molecules Discovery Centre (SBMDC), School of Medical and Life Sciences, Sunway University, Sunway, Malaysia. Electronic address: singhsachin23@gmail.com
Drug Discov Today, 2025 Mar 12.
PMID: 40086788 DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2025.104330

Abstract

Over the past decade, dissolving microneedles (DMNs) have emerged as a promising approach for drug delivery to the brain. They are tiny devices designed to penetrate biological barriers, offering a painless method for localized and controlled drug delivery. They are suitable for delivering drugs that are susceptible to degradation when delivered orally. Recently, drug-loaded DMNs have been explored for treating neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). DMNs can deliver drugs efficiently to the brain via the intranasal, transdermal, and intracranial routes. In this review, we discuss the use of DMNs for delivering drugs to the brain, recent technological advances, clinical status, and current challenges related to their translation.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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