Rapid Prototyping of Biomimetic Structures: Fabrication of Mosquito-like Microneedles by Two-Photon Polymerization
- PDF / 6,142,989 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 65 Downloads / 134 Views
1239-VV01-11
Rapid Prototyping of Biomimetic Structures: Fabrication of Mosquito-like Microneedles by Two-Photon Polymerization Shaun D Gittard1,2, Roger J Narayan1,2, Aleksandr Ovsianikov3, Boris N Chichkov3 1
Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2147 Burlington Labs, 2500 Stinson Drive Raleigh, NC, 27695, U.S.A. 2 Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 152 MacNider Hall Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7575, U.S.A. 3 Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V., Hollerithalle 8 30419 Hannover, Germany
ABSTRACT Over the past twenty years, the use of rapid prototyping techniques for processing of medical devices has seen rapid growth. A number of rapid prototyping techniques currently exist for producing a broad range of medical devices using metals, ceramics, polymers, and composite materials. One promising rapid prototyping technology for creating medical devices with small scale features is two photon polymerization; this scalable photopolymerization technique enables processing of photosensitive materials such as organically-modified ceramic materials. In this study, two photon polymerization was used to produce microneedles that mimic the anatomy of the mosquito fascicle. The labrum of the mosquito was replicated in the mosquito-like microneedle. On the other hand, the maxillae of the mosquito were not replicated in the mosquito-like microneedle; the absence of these features was attributed to inadequate mechanical support of the maxillae. This study suggests that two photon polymerization and other rapid prototyping technologies may be used to produce biomimetic drug delivery devices that imitate the intricate structures found in nature. INTRODUCTION Rapid prototyping is a materials processing technique that involves additive fabrication of structures in a layer-by-layer fashion. Fabrication of the structure is generally guided by a computer model. The computer model is sectioned into layers; a structure is subsequently fabricated according to the specifications provided by the sectioned model. More than twenty rapid prototyping mechanisms currently exist, including fused deposition modeling, selective laser sintering, laminated objective manufacturing, low temperature deposition manufacturing, 3D Bioplotter®, and stereolithography [1-15]. Each rapid prototyping technique is compatible with specific types of precursor materials. For example, rapid prototyping systems that involve photopolymerization processes utilize photosensitive resins. In order to expand the number of materials that are compatible with rapid prototyping, indirect rapid prototyping processes can be used. Instead of using the rapid prototyping technique to directly prepare a usable device, the rapid prototyping technique can be used to make a mold for casting of one or several usable devices. In rapid prototyping, there is a tradeoff between resolution, fabrication time, and thus
cost. Since structures fabricated by rapid prototyping approaches are built in a layer by layer man
Data Loading...
