Scientists created a custom‑made microneedle patch using a special 3D‑printed polymer that can safely carry the anti‑wrinkle peptide acetyl‑hexapeptide‑3 through the skin, overcoming its usual poor absorption.

Acetyl-hexapeptide 3 (AHP-3) has good efficacy and safety profile as an anti-wrinkle small peptide. However, its skin permeation is poor due to its hydrophilicity and large molecular weight. 3D printing of personalised microneedles (MN), that contour to the skin surface, offers an attractive alternative for delivery for AHP-3. However, commercially available photocurable resin for 3D printing are not suitable for fabrication of drug loaded delivery systems. In this study, two liquid monomers, namely, polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) and vinyl pyrrolidone (VP), were investigated at various proportions, for critical parameters such as mechanical strength of final polymer, rate of polymerisation, rate of swelling of final polymer, 3D printing resolution and safety profile of final polymer. The optimal resin, based on the above parameters, was that of ratio 7 VP: 3 PEGDA in weight. Drug loading into the optimal resin demonstrated that AHP-3 remained stable throughout the fabrication process and there was no effect on the physical properties of final polymer. Using a 3D scanned face model, a personalised MN patch was designed using computer aided design (CAD) software and subsequently fabricated using a Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D printer, with the optimal resin. In vitro characterisation of fabricated MN patch demonstrated the ability to penetrate human cadaver dermatomed skin and the MN remained intact after compression. The final polymer also had minimal cytotoxicity to human dermal fibroblast. Therefore, personalised MN patch fabricated using the photopolymer can potentially be a novel approach to augment transdermal delivery of AHP-3 for effective wrinkle management.