Optical monitoring of drug release in hybrid patch based on polymer microneedles and porous silicon membrane

Microneedles have been widely applied in biomedicine as tools both in diagnostics and therapeutics. In fact, microneedles are useful and painless interface between human derma and biomedical devices. We improved microneedles array features by integrating a porous silicon membrane as reservoir and optical monitor, thus realizing a smart device for local drug delivery. In this paper, we present fabrication and characterization of a patch device loaded by fluorescein molecules, as a proof of concept.