Collagen-based dissolving microneedles with flexible pedestals: A transdermal delivery system for both anti-aging and skin diseases.

Biocompatible polymer microneedles (MNs) are emerging as a promising platform for transdermal drug delivery, especially for facial treatments. Therefore, the MN patch in this study used hydrolyzed collagen (HC) contained in skin cells as the main raw material and adopted a two-step cast method to develop a rapidly dissolving microneedle (DMN) patch to deliver collagen in a simple and minimally invasive way, allowing the release of the encapsulated drug in the skin. By optimizing the formulation and proportion of HC and auxiliary support materials, the mechanical strength required to pierce the skin was obtained, while the soft pedestal allowed for flexibility in application. The DMNs could dissolve completely in the skin within 15 min and release within about 8 h, and would not cause toxicity or irritation when being applied. In contrast to the ineffectiveness of oral and external application, and the high risk of dermal injection, drug-loaded HC DMNs overcome the drawbacks of traditional methods with direct penetration and minimally invasive manner, enabling efficient and safe treatment. The successful preparation and research of HC DMNs have innovative and practical significance in this field, and it is expected to become a simple, effective and popular transdermal drug delivery platform for cosmetics. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.