Poly(2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate) Hydrogel-Based Microneedles for Metformin Release

Manoj B Sharma; Özlem Kap; Hend A M Abdelmohsen; Mark D Ashton; Garry R Harper; Melike Firlak; Jasmine E Aaltonen; Kerry A Bolland; Ryan Bragg; Sarah Deeley; Ella Francis; Nahin Kazi; Bethany L Mapley; Vasileios Oikonomou; Amal D Aljohani; David Cheneler; Volkan Kilic; Nesrin Horzum; John G Hardy

doi:10.1002/gch2.202300002

Poly(2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate) Hydrogel-Based Microneedles for Metformin Release

Glob Chall. 2023 Jul 5;7(8):2300002. doi: 10.1002/gch2.202300002. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

Manoj B Sharma^{1

2}, Özlem Kap³, Hend A M Abdelmohsen^{1

4}, Mark D Ashton¹, Garry R Harper¹, Melike Firlak^{1

5}, Jasmine E Aaltonen¹, Kerry A Bolland¹, Ryan Bragg¹, Sarah Deeley¹, Ella Francis¹, Nahin Kazi¹, Bethany L Mapley¹, Vasileios Oikonomou¹, Amal D Aljohani^{1

6}, David Cheneler^{2

7}, Volkan Kilic⁸, Nesrin Horzum³, John G Hardy^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry Lancaster University Lancaster LA1 4YB UK.
² School of Engineering Lancaster University Lancaster LA1 4YW UK.
³ Department of Engineering Sciences Izmir Katip Celebi University Izmir 35620 Turkey.
⁴ Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy Faculty of Pharmacy Ain Shams University African Union Organization Street Abbassia Cairo 11566 Egypt.
⁵ Department of Chemistry Gebze Technical University Gebze 41400 Turkey.
⁶ Department of Chemistry (Female Section) Faculty of Science King Abdulaziz University Jeddah-Rabbigh 21589 Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Materials Science Institute Lancaster University Lancaster LA1 4YB UK.
⁸ Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Izmir Katip Celebi University Izmir 35620 Turkey.

Abstract

The release of metformin, a drug used in the treatment of cancer and diabetes, from poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), pHEMA, hydrogel-based microneedle patches is demonstrated in vitro. Tuning the composition of the pHEMA hydrogels enables preparation of robust microneedle patches with mechanical properties such that they would penetrate skin (insertion force of a single microneedle to be ≈40 N). Swelling experiments conducted at 20, 35, and 60 °C show temperature-dependent degrees of swelling and diffusion kinetics. Drug release from the pHEMA hydrogel-based microneedles is fitted to various models (e.g., zero order, first order, second order). Such pHEMA microneedles have potential application for transdermal delivery of metformin for the treatment of aging, cancer, diabetes, etc.

Keywords: aging; cancer; diabetes; drug delivery; hydrogels; microneedles.