A research team from National Chi Nan University (NCNU) has successfully administered medication to live animals by using painless, needle-free transdermo drug-delivery technology, university sources reported yesterday.
The needle-free know-how, applied in lab tests in cooperation with researchers from the Taichung Veterans General Hospital, has great prospects for applications in the fields of dermatology and cosmetology, as well as almost any other medical field that requires medication administered through the skin, said Yang Chung-hsi, director of the university's Chemical Engineering Department.
By using a microdialysis probe, Yang and his research colleagues successfully delivered drugs to the subcutaneous tissues of live Sprague Dowley rats by using the needle-free technology, allowing the drug to be absorbed efficiently but without the pain that accompanies injection, according to Yang.
The new drug-delivery method has only been applied successfully on animals, but it is expected that this technology will be approved for use on humans by the Department of Health.
Once the method is approved for use in humans, it will greatly benefit people afraid of injections, but who must receive medication through the skin, Yang added.
Yang said his idea of researching and developing the technology took shape after it was found that the conventional method used by dermatologists and cosmetologists to apply medication on the skin of patients had limited and unreliable results.
By using the new technology -- which features two methods called sonophoresis and ionotophoresis -- with microdialysis probes, drugs are absorbed more efficiently, Yang noted.
The technology could be used by for doctors in any medical department where injections are required, Yang said.
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