Post date: Jan 30, 2013 4:4:56 PM
Next Media - Researchers at MIT are developing a method of delivering vaccines with patches of tiny needles that would embed a substance containing the vaccine onto the skin, much like a tattoo. The technique would eliminate the need of a syringe.
The microneedles would measure 250 microns wide by 650 microns long, and would be coated with a biodegradable film comprised of layers of polymers containing the vaccine.The patch of microneedles would penetrate the skin less than a millimeter (650 microns) deep, enough to deliver the vaccine, but not deep enough to affect blood vessels and nerve endings to cause pain.
The patch would embed the film into the skin. The film would gradually wear away over a sustained period of time, gradually releasing the vaccine into the skin.
SOURCE: TechNewsDaily, Science Daily, US National Institutes of Health
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/01/28/micro-needles-allow-painless-dna-vaccines/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100718204733.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19768415