Engineered Microneedles Arrays for Wound Healing

Wound healing is the regenerative process of original skin structure after destructing by different damage sources. Due to their transdermal delivery capability and high specific surface area, microneedles arrays (MAs) have been recognized as encouraging biomaterials for wound healing. In this review, we have outlined the engineered MAs used for tissue regeneration and wound healing. Engineered MAs was first classified by design methodologies such as bionic design, intelligent-responsive design, actively-triggered design, matrix materials innovation, and composite smart design.

Highlights

• The advances of engineered microneedles arrays for wound healing were reviewed.

• The design strategies, advanced applications and advantages of engineered microneedles arrays were summarized.

• The challenges, further orientations and prospects were discussed.

Then, the MAs were divided into two categories based on the different loading substances: drug-loaded MAs and living component-loaded MAs. Finally, we have summed up the important elements of the preceding discussions and forecasted their future evolution.

Introduction

Our skin is easily injured by numerous stimuli in the ambient environment since it is exposed to the outermost layer of the body. Skin damage caused by trauma, fire, hazardous chemicals, hereditary illnesses, and systemic diseases poses a serious threat to people’s lives and health. Wound healing is a complex and multifaceted process involving hemostasis, inflammation, granulation, and remodeling. Failures in any link may cause delayed healing. Biomaterials are designed to interact with biological systems, allowing them to exert their healing capacity to stimulate the regeneration of tissues or organs. Skin biomaterials with outstanding biocompatibility and regenerative capability have been developed in response to the rising demands for wound healing. Microneedles arrays (MAs) are novel types of transdermal delivery biomaterials that may penetrate the stratum corneum to the dermis selectively for vaccination, percutaneous diagnostics, and cosmetic applications. MAs are also widely used in wound healing due to its painless and minimally invasive properties. Thanks to their engineering design and intelligent administration strategy, MAs can penetrate the unfavorable environment on the wound surface, such as vascular neuropathy, immunological dysfunction, nutritional imbalance, and infection, to accomplish more active therapeutic goals. Furthermore, superior biocompatibility and customizable microstructure endow MAs with the ability to transport a variety of medications or cells. As a result, innovative dressings based on MAs are likely to become more commonly employed in wound healing in the future.

In this work, we have reviewed the most recent developments in MAs for wound healing. We focus on medical MAs design and material innovation, and hope to stimulate the development of a new generation of intelligent MAs for wound healing. Briefly, we begin with the engineered design strategy for the fabrication of medical MAs, including bionic design, wound-responsive design, actively-triggered design, material innovation, and composite smart design. Then, we categorize the various forms of medical MAs, such as chemical drug-loaded MAs, cell-loaded MAs, protein-loaded MAs, nucleic acid-loaded MAs, and so on. With this, we endeavor to emphasize that the optimal medical MAs scheme can be achieved through engineered design for the purpose of restoration and regeneration of complicated wounds. Finally, we have outlined major problems for future research based on the literatures in this review, highlighting uncertainties and challenges in this field.

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Shun Yao, Yuan Luo, Yongan Wang,
Engineered Microneedles Arrays for Wound Healing,
Engineered Regeneration,2022, ISSN 2666-1381,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engreg.2022.05.003.