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Updated: Jul 20, 2025

Hollow Microneedle-based Sensor for Multiplexed Transdermal Electrochemical Sensing
Published on: June 1, 2012
Transdermal drug delivery via microneedles for musculoskeletal systems
Haibin Zheng1,2, Xuankun Xie1,2, Haocong Ling1,2
1The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510280, P. R. China.
Abstract:
As the population is ageing and lifestyle is changing, the prevalence of musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders is gradually increasing with each passing year, posing a serious threat to the health and quality of the public, especially the elderly. However, currently prevalent treatments for MSK disorders, mainly administered orally and by injection, are not targeted to the specific lesion, resulting in low efficacy along with a series of local and systemic adverse effects. Microneedle (MN) patches loaded with micron-sized needle array, combining the advantages of oral administration and local injection, have become a potentially novel strategy for the administration and treatment of MSK diseases. In this review, we briefly introduce the basics of MNs and focus on the main characteristics of the MSK systems and various types of MN-based transdermal drug delivery (TDD) systems. We emphasize the progress and broad applications of MN-based transdermal drug delivery (TDD) for MSK systems, including osteoporosis, nutritional rickets and some other typical types of arthritis and muscular damage, and in closing summarize the future prospects and challenges of MNs application.
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