scholarly journals 3D-Printed Products for Topical Skin Applications: From Personalized Dressings to Drug Delivery

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1946
Author(s):  
Rafaela Santos de Oliveira ◽  
Stephani Silva Fantaus ◽  
Antonio José Guillot ◽  
Ana Melero ◽  
Ruy Carlos Ruver Beck

3D printing has been widely used for the personalization of therapies and on-demand production of complex pharmaceutical forms. Recently, 3D printing has been explored as a tool for the development of topical dosage forms and wound dressings. Thus, this review aims to present advances related to the use of 3D printing for the development of pharmaceutical and biomedical products for topical skin applications, covering plain dressing and products for the delivery of active ingredients to the skin. Based on the data acquired, the important growth in the number of publications over the last years confirms its interest. The semisolid extrusion technique has been the most reported one, probably because it allows the use of a broad range of polymers, creating the most diverse therapeutic approaches. 3D printing has been an excellent field for customizing dressings, according to individual needs. Studies discussed here imply the use of metals, nanoparticles, drugs, natural compounds and proteins and peptides for the treatment of wound healing, acne, pain relief, and anti-wrinkle, among others. The confluence of 3D printing and topical applications has undeniable advantages, and we would like to encourage the research groups to explore this field to improve the patient’s life quality, adherence and treatment efficacy.

Author(s):  
Michael A. Luzuriaga ◽  
Danielle R. Berry ◽  
John C. Reagan ◽  
Ronald A. Smaldone ◽  
Jeremiah J. Gassensmith

Biodegradable polymer microneedle (MN) arrays are an emerging class of transdermal drug delivery devices that promise a painless and sanitary alternative to syringes; however, prototyping bespoke needle architectures is expensive and requires production of new master templates. Here, we present a new microfabrication technique for MNs using fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing using polylactic acid, an FDA approved, renewable, biodegradable, thermoplastic material. We show how this natural degradability can be exploited to overcome a key challenge of FDM 3D printing, in particular the low resolution of these printers. We improved the feature size of the printed parts significantly by developing a post fabrication chemical etching protocol, which allowed us to access tip sizes as small as 1 μm. With 3D modeling software, various MN shapes were designed and printed rapidly with custom needle density, length, and shape. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed that our method resulted in needle tip sizes in the range of 1 – 55 µm, which could successfully penetrate and break off into porcine skin. We have also shown that these MNs have comparable mechanical strengths to currently fabricated MNs and we further demonstrated how the swellability of PLA can be exploited to load small molecule drugs and how its degradability in skin can release those small molecules over time.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Liu ◽  
Shifeng Liu ◽  
Yunzhe Li ◽  
Peng Zhou ◽  
Qian ma

Abstract:: Surgery to repair damaged tissue, which is caused by disease or trauma, is being carried out all the time, and a desirable treatment is compelling need to regenerate damaged tissues to further improve the quality of human health. Therefore, more and more research focus on exploring the most suitable bionic design to enrich available treatment methods. 3D-printing, as an advanced materials processing approach, holds promising potential to create prototypes with complex constructs that could reproduce primitive tissues and organs as much as possible or provide appropriate cell-material interfaces. In a sense, 3D printing promises to bridge between tissue engineering and bionic design, which can provide an unprecedented personalized recapitulation with biomimetic function under the precise control of the composition and spatial distribution of cells and biomaterials. This article describes recent progress in 3D bionic design and the potential application prospect of 3D printing regenerative medicine including 3D printing biomimetic scaffolds and 3D cell printing in tissue engineering.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 283-298
Author(s):  
Suresh Kumar Sahu ◽  
Rakesh Raj ◽  
Pooja Mongia Raj ◽  
Ram Alpana

Treatment of skin ailments through systemic administration is limited due to toxicity and patients discomfort. Hence, lower risk of systemic side effects from topical dosage forms like ointments, creams, emulsions and gels is more preferred for the treatment of skin disease. Application of lipid based carriers in drug delivery in topical formulations has recently become one of the major approaches to improve drug permeation, safety, and effectiveness. These delivery systems include liposomes, ethosomes, transfersomes, Nanoemulsions (NEs), Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLNs) Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLCs) and micelles. Most of the liposomes and SLNs based products are in the market while some are under investigation. Transcutaneous delivery of therapeutics to the skin layer by novel lipid based carriers has enhanced topical therapy for the treatment of skin ailments. This article covers an overview of the lipid-based carriers for topical uses to alleviate skin diseases.


Author(s):  
Juan Sebastian Cuellar ◽  
Dick Plettenburg ◽  
Amir A Zadpoor ◽  
Paul Breedveld ◽  
Gerwin Smit

Various upper-limb prostheses have been designed for 3D printing but only a few of them are based on bio-inspired design principles and many anatomical details are not typically incorporated even though 3D printing offers advantages that facilitate the application of such design principles. We therefore aimed to apply a bio-inspired approach to the design and fabrication of articulated fingers for a new type of 3D printed hand prosthesis that is body-powered and complies with basic user requirements. We first studied the biological structure of human fingers and their movement control mechanisms in order to devise the transmission and actuation system. A number of working principles were established and various simplifications were made to fabricate the hand prosthesis using a fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printer with dual material extrusion. We then evaluated the mechanical performance of the prosthetic device by measuring its ability to exert pinch forces and the energy dissipated during each operational cycle. We fabricated our prototypes using three polymeric materials including PLA, TPU, and Nylon. The total weight of the prosthesis was 92 g with a total material cost of 12 US dollars. The energy dissipated during each cycle was 0.380 Nm with a pinch force of ≈16 N corresponding to an input force of 100 N. The hand is actuated by a conventional pulling cable used in BP prostheses. It is connected to a shoulder strap at one end and to the coupling of the whiffle tree mechanism at the other end. The whiffle tree mechanism distributes the force to the four tendons, which bend all fingers simultaneously when pulled. The design described in this manuscript demonstrates several bio-inspired design features and is capable of performing different grasping patterns due to the adaptive grasping provided by the articulated fingers. The pinch force obtained is superior to other fully 3D printed body-powered hand prostheses, but still below that of conventional body powered hand prostheses. We present a 3D printed bio-inspired prosthetic hand that is body-powered and includes all of the following characteristics: adaptive grasping, articulated fingers, and minimized post-printing assembly. Additionally, the low cost and low weight make this prosthetic hand a worthy option mainly in locations where state-of-the-art prosthetic workshops are absent.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Heemsbergen ◽  
Angela Daly ◽  
Jiajie Lu ◽  
Thomas Birtchnell

This article outlines preliminary findings from a futures forecasting exercise where participants in Shenzhen and Singapore considered the socio-technological construction of 3D printing in terms of work and social change. We offered participants ideal political-economic futures across local–global knowledge and capital–commons dimensions, and then had them backcast the contextual waypoints across markets, culture, policy, law and technology dimensions that help guide towards each future. Their discussion identified various contextually sensitive points, but also tended to dismiss the farthest reaches of each proposed ideal, often reverting to familiar contextual signifiers. Here, we offer discussion on how participants saw culture and industry shaping futures for pertinent political economic concerns in the twenty-first century.


Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Martino Colonna ◽  
Benno Zingerle ◽  
Maria Federica Parisi ◽  
Claudio Gioia ◽  
Alessandro Speranzoni ◽  
...  

The optimization of sport equipment parts requires considerable time and high costs due to the high complexity of the development process. For this reason, we have developed a novel approach to decrease the cost and time for the optimization of the design, which consists of producing a first prototype by 3D printing, applying the forces that normally acts during the sport activity using a test bench, and then measuring the local deformations using 3D digital image correlation (DIC). The design parameters are then modified by topological optimization and then DIC is performed again on the new 3D-printed modified part. The DIC analysis of 3D-printed parts has shown a good agreement with that of the injection-molded ones. The deformation measured with DIC are also well correlated with those provided by finite element method (FEM) analysis, and therefore DIC analysis proves to be a powerful tool to validate FEM models.


2021 ◽  
pp. 004005992110101
Author(s):  
A. Chloe Simpson ◽  
Andrea Ruth Taliaferro

While assistive technology is often suggested as a way to increase, maintain, or improve functional ability for individuals with disabilities within physical activity (PA) settings, cost and availability of such items are often noted as barriers. In recent years, 3D printing has become available to the general public through the adoption of 3D printers in schools, libraries, and universities. Through individual design and rapid prototyping, 3D printing can support physical educators in accommodating student need for assistive technology through a multitude of modification possibilities. This article will highlight the capacity for 3D printed assistive technology within educational settings, and will illustrate how teachers, APE specialists, and other related service personnel can utilize this technology to support student success in PE and PA settings. This article will also assist practitioners with locating, uploading, and utilizing existing collections of 3D assistive technology models from open-source websites, such as Thingiverse.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 545
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Rodzeń ◽  
Preetam K. Sharma ◽  
Alistair McIlhagger ◽  
Mozaffar Mokhtari ◽  
Foram Dave ◽  
...  

The manufacture of polyetheretherketone/hydroxyapatite (PEEK/HA) composites is seen as a viable approach to help enhance direct bone apposition in orthopaedic implants. A range of methods have been used to produce composites, including Selective Laser Sintering and injection moulding. Such techniques have drawbacks and lack flexibility to manufacture complex, custom-designed implants. 3D printing gets around many of the restraints and provides new opportunities for innovative solutions that are structurally suited to meet the needs of the patient. This work reports the direct 3D printing of extruded PEEK/HA composite filaments via a Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) approach. In this work samples are 3D printed by a custom modified commercial printer Ultimaker 2+ (UM2+). SEM-EDX and µCT analyses show that HA particles are evenly distributed throughout the bulk and across the surface of the native 3D printed samples, with XRD highlighting up to 50% crystallinity and crystalline domains clearly observed in SEM and HR-TEM analyses. This highlights the favourable temperature conditions during 3D printing. The yield stress and ultimate tensile strength obtained for all the samples are comparable to human femoral cortical bone. The results show how FFF 3D printing of PEEK/HA composites up to 30 wt% HA can be achieved.


Machines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Andrei Marius Mihalache ◽  
Gheorghe Nagîț ◽  
Laurențiu Slătineanu ◽  
Adelina Hrițuc ◽  
Angelos Markopoulos ◽  
...  

3D printing is a process that has become widely used in recent years, allowing the production of parts with relatively complicated shapes from metallic and non-metallic materials. In some cases, it is challenging to evaluate the ability of 3D printers to make fine details of parts. For such an assessment, the printing of samples showing intersections of surfaces with low angle values was considered. An experimental plan was designed and materialized to highlight the influence of different factors, such as the thickness of the deposited material layer, the printing speed, the cooling and filling conditions of the 3D-printed part, and the thickness of the sample. Samples using areas in the form of isosceles triangles with constant height or bases with the same length, respectively, were used. The mathematical processing of the experimental results allowed the determination of empirical mathematical models of the power-function type. It allowed the detection of both the direction of actions and the intensity of the influence exerted by the input factors. It is concluded that the strongest influence on the printer’s ability to produce fine detail, from the point of view addressed in the paper, is exerted by the vertex angle, whose reduction leads to a decrease in printing accuracy.


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