Advances in Intelligent Stimuli-Responsive Microneedle for Biomedical Applications.

Microneedles (MNs) are a new type of drug delivery method that can be regarded as an alternative to traditional transdermal drug delivery systems. Recently, MNs have attracted widespread attention for their advantages of effectiveness, safety, and painlessness. However, the functionality of traditional MNs is too monotonous and limits their application. To improve the efficiency of disease treatment and diagnosis by combining the advantages of MNs, the concept of intelligent stimulus-responsive MNs were proposed. Intelligent stimuli-responsive MNs can exhibit unique biomedical functions according to the internal and external environment changes. This review discusses the classification and principles of intelligent stimuli-responsive MNs, such as magnet, temperature, light, electricity, reactive oxygen, pH, glucose, and protein. This review also highlights examples of intelligent stimuli-responsive MNs for biomedical applications, such as drug delivery system, tissue repair, bioimaging, detection, and photothermal therapy. These intelligent stimuli-responsive MNs offer the advantages of high biocompatibility, targeted therapy, selective detection and precision treatment. Finally, the prospects and challenges for the application of intelligent stimuli-responsive MNs are discussed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.