Autonomous drug delivery and scar microenvironment remodeling using micromotor-driven microneedles for hypertrophic scars therapy.

ABSTRACT: Hypertrophic scar is a fibrous hyperplastic disorder that arises from skin injuries. The current therapeutic modalities are constrained by the dense and rigid scar tissue which impedes effective drug delivery. Additionally, insufficient autophagic activity in fibroblasts hinders their apoptosis, leading to excessive matrix deposition. Here, we developed an active microneedle (MN) system to overcome these challenges by integrating micromotor-driven drug delivery with autophagy regulation to remodel the scar microenvironment. Specifically, sodium bicarbonate and citric acid were introduced into the MNs as a built-in engine to generate CO₂ bubbles, thereby enabling enhanced lateral and vertical drug diffusion into dense scar tissue. The system concurrently encapsulated curcumin (Cu

SUBMITTER: Wen T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12278434 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature