Micro-Syringe

Micro-Syringes have been developed for the delivery of lyopholized or dried drugs. The drug is delivered in a non-aqueous solution just under the skin where it is dissolved by the interstitial fluid and absorbed by the capillary blood vessels. All this is above the nerve endings so it does not hurt. The overall goal of this project is to be able to effectively distribute vaccines in remote areas that do not have sufficient medical care. On the right is a picture of a microsyringe made by Boris Stoeber. We have demonstrated that the microneedles do actually deliver drugs effectively. The image at the bottom right shows the experimental setup to investigate drug delivery in human subjects. We delivered Methyl Nicotinate using the microneedles and measured response, vasodialation using an LDV system. This research, which was conducted in collaboration with Prof. Howard Maibeck at UCSF, show that the drug is delivered and there is a rapid response by the body.