title: Minimally invasive microneedles for ocular drug delivery.
abstract: Anterior and posterior segment eye diseases are highly challenging to treat, due to the barrier properties and relative inaccessibility of the ocular tissues. Topical eye drops and systemically delivered treatments result in low bioavailability. Alternatively, direct injection of medication into the ocular tissues is clinically employed to overcome the barrier properties, but injections cause significant tissue damage and are associated with a number of untoward side effects and poor patient compliance. Microneedles (MNs) has been recently introduced as a minimally invasive means for localizing drug formulation within the target ocular tissues with greater precision and accuracy than the hypodermic needles. Areas covered: This review article seeks to provide an overview of a range of challenges that are often faced to achieve efficient ocular drug levels within targeted tissue(s) of the eye. It also describes the problems encountered using conventional hypodermic needle-based ocular injections for anterior and posterior segment drug delivery. It discusses research carried out in the field of MNs, to date. Expert opinion: MNs can aid in localization of drug delivery systems within the selected ocular tissue. And, hold the potential to revolutionize the way drug formulations are administered to the eye. However, the current limitations and challenges of MNs application warrant further research in this field to enable its widespread clinical application.
authors.affiliation: a School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Medical Biology Centre , Belfast , Northern Ireland , UK.
authors.forename: Raghu Raj
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Thakur Singh
authors.affiliation: a School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Medical Biology Centre , Belfast , Northern Ireland , UK.
authors.forename: Ismaiel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tekko
authors.affiliation: a School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Medical Biology Centre , Belfast , Northern Ireland , UK.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McAvoy
authors.affiliation: a School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Medical Biology Centre , Belfast , Northern Ireland , UK.
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: McMillan
authors.affiliation: a School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Medical Biology Centre , Belfast , Northern Ireland , UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: a School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast, Medical Biology Centre , Belfast , Northern Ireland , UK.
authors.forename: Ryan F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Donnelly
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D009339:Needles; D009883:Ophthalmic Solutions / Q000008:administration & dosage; D057972:Posterior Eye Segment / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009883:Ophthalmic Solutions
keywords: Ocular drug delivery; anterior segment; microneedle; minimally-invasive; posterior segment