Trilayer dissolving microneedle for transdermal delivery of minoxidil: a proof-of-concept study

Abstract

Alopecia areata (AA) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by bald patches in certain areas of the body, especially the scalp. Minoxidil (MNX), as a first-line treatment of AA, effectively induces hair growth. However, oral and topical administration pose problems, including low bioavailability, risk of uncontrolled hair growth, and local side effects such as burning hair loss, and scalp irritation. In the latest research, MNX was delivered to the skin via microneedle (MN) transdermally. The MNX concentration was distributed throughout the needle so that drug penetration was reduced and had the potential to irritate. In this study, we formulated MNX into three-layer dissolving microneedles (TDMN) to increase drug penetration and avoid irritation. Physicochemical evaluation, parafilm, was used to evaluate the mechanical strength of TDMN and showed that TDMN could penetrate the stratum corneum. The ex-vivo permeation test showed that the highest average permeation result was obtained for TDMN2, namely 165.28 ± 31.87 ug/cm², while for Minoxidil cream it was 46.03 ± 8.5 ug/cm². The results of ex vivo and in vivo dermatokinetic tests showed that the amount of drug concentration remaining in the skin from the TDMN2 formula was higher compared to the cream preparation. The formula developed has no potential for irritation and toxicity based on the HET-CAM test and hemolysis test. TDMN is a promising alternative to administering MNX to overcome MNX problems and increase the effectiveness of AA therapy.

Keywords:

• Minoxidil
• microneedle
• trilayer dissolving microneedle
• transdermal delivery

Acknowledgment

The authors thank the Directorate General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia, for financially supporting this study through the Student Creativity Program (Program Kreativitas Mahasiswa, PKM).

Author’s role

Nur Afika: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation Writing – original draft. Afifah Fadhilah Saniy: Methodology, Software, Validation, Writing – original draft. Athaullah Akmal Fawwaz Dharma: Methodology, Writing – original draft. Christopher Kosasi, Ko: Data curation, Validation, Writing – original draft. Rayu Kamran: Methodology, Data curation. Andi Dian Permana: Conceptualization, Project administration, Funding acquisition, Validation, Supervision.

Data availability

No data was used for the research described in the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was fully funded by the Directorate General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia and Hasanuddin University through the Student Creativity Program (PKM).