Author(s): Vinayakumar, K. B. ; Silva, Maria Daniela ; Martins, Artur ; Mundy, Stephen ; González-Losada, Pedro ; Sillankorva, Sanna M.
Date: 2023
Persistent ID: https://hdl.handle.net/1822/85094
Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
Subject(s): 3D printing; biofilms; Klebsiella pneumoniae; levofloxacin; microneedles; polyvinyl alcohol
Additive manufacturing advancements contribute considerably to several fields, and its use in the medical field is gaining attention due to its easily customizable option (patient-specific), low cost, and fast turnout time in developing drug delivery and diagnostic tools. Here, wereport the fabrication of a microneedle (MN) platform using a stereolithography 3D printer, varying the 3D printing angle and aspect ratio (2:1, 3:1, 4:1). The optimal printing angle was30, resulting in needle tip and base diameters of 50 µm and 330 µm, and heights of 550/850/1180 µm. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) MNs produced with varying levofloxacin concentrations showed variability of 4% in tip and 3% base diameters and 15% in height compared to the 3D-printed MNs. Geometry B wasused to produce levofloxacin-loaded PVA MNs and tested against Klebsiella pneumoniae colony biofilms. Levofloxacin wasreleased gradually, as assessed by spectrofluorimetry. The MIC of levofloxacin against the K. pneumoniae clinical isolate was4 µg/mL, but this concentration wasinsufficient to cause any effect on K. pneumoniae biofilms. Only concentrations 32 µg/mL werestatistically different compared to the unloaded MNs. 3D printing is an attractive solution to produce molds for fabricating biopolymeric MNs for topical drug delivery.
