Fabrication of polylactic acid microneedles by using 3D deposition

Abstract

Microneedle (MN) is a micron scale needle to bypass the stratum corneum for subsequent biomedical applications in epidermis and dermis layers of the skin. In terms of the biocompatibility and biodegradability, polylactic acid (PLA) is a safe material for MNs. In this research, PLA needles with predesigned structures were additively deposited by fused deposition modeling (FDM). Furthermore, isotropic chemical etching was employed to reduce the size of PLA needles to a micron scale to achieve the PLA MNs. PLA MNs fabricated in this work are expected to be coated with drug for medical applications.