Printing amphotericin B on microneedles using matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation.

Transdermal delivery of amphotericin B, a pharmacological agent with activity against fungi and parasitic protozoa, is a challenge since amphotericin B exhibits poor solubility in aqueous solutions at physiologic pH values. In this study, we have used a laser-based printing approach known as matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation to print amphotericin B on the surfaces of polyglycolic acid microneedles that were prepared using a combination of injection molding and drawing lithography. In a modified agar disk diffusion assay, the amphotericin B-loaded microneedles showed concentration-dependent activity against the yeast Candida albicans . The results of this study suggest that matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation may be used to print amphotericin B and other drugs that have complex solubility issues on the surfaces of microneedles.
Competing Interests: No conflict of interest was reported by the authors. We would like to acknowledge C Mooney (NCSU Analytical Instrumentation Facility) for his aid with electron microscopy, B Andersen for her aid with Fourier transform infared spectrosocpy (NCSU College of Textiles), P Strader (NCSU Analytical Instrumentation Facility) for his aid with nanoindentation, the US National Institutes of Health (Award # 1R21AI117748- 01A1), the US National Science Foundation (Award CMMI 1258536), and the US Office of Naval Research (Award # N00014-15-1-2323). This work was also supported by the National Program PN 4N/2016(1647- LAPLAS IV and a grant of Ministry of Research and Innovation, CNCS - UEFISCDI, Project Number PN- III-P4-ID-PCE-2016-0884, within PNCDI III.
(Copyright: © 2017 Sachan, et al.)