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An electrically active microneedle array for electroporation

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Abstract

We have designed and fabricated a microneedle array with electrical functionality with the final goal of electroporating skin’s epidermal cells to increase their transfection by DNA vaccines. The microneedle array was made of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) by micromolding technology from a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold, followed by metal deposition, patterning using laser ablation, and electrodeposition. This microneedle array possessed sufficient mechanical strength to penetrate human skin in vivo and was also able to electroporate both red blood cells and human prostate cancer cells as an in vitro model to demonstrate cell membrane permeabilization. A computational model to predict the effective volume for electroporation with respect to applied voltages was constructed from finite element simulation. This study demonstrates the mechanical and electrical functionalities of the first MEMS-fabricated microneedle array for electroporation, designed for DNA vaccine delivery.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by National Institute of Health. The authors would like to thank Dr. Yoonsu Choi and Dr. Jin-Woo Park for helpful discussions regarding microneedle array fabrication. Mark Prausnitz and Mark Allen are inventors on patents owned by Georgia Tech that are relevant to this study. The associated conflict of interest is being managed by Georgia Tech.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Seong-O Choi, Yong-Kyu Yoon & Mark G. Allen

  2. School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Seong-O Choi, Yeu Chun Kim, Joshua Hutcheson, Mark R. Prausnitz & Mark G. Allen

  3. Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Harvinder S. Gill & Mark R. Prausnitz

  4. Department of BioNano Technology and Gachon BioNano Research Institute, Kyungwon University, Seongnam, Gyeonggi-Do, 461-701, Republic of Korea

    Jung-Hwan Park

Authors
  1. Seong-O Choi
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  2. Yeu Chun Kim
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  3. Jung-Hwan Park
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  4. Joshua Hutcheson
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  5. Harvinder S. Gill
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  6. Yong-Kyu Yoon
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  7. Mark R. Prausnitz
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  8. Mark G. Allen
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Correspondence to Mark R. Prausnitz or Mark G. Allen.

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Choi, SO., Kim, Y.C., Park, JH. et al. An electrically active microneedle array for electroporation. Biomed Microdevices 12, 263–273 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-009-9381-x

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