Chapter 11
Transdermal Delivery of Nucleic Acid Mediated by Punching
and Electroporation
Dong Huang, Yuanyu Huang, and Zhihong Li
Abstract
Transdermal delivery of gene medicine holds a great promise in gene therapy, and electroporation-mediated
method is a high-efficiency drug transfer technique. Traditional skin electroporation approaches require
high voltage that may cause severe injure. In this chapter, we provide a detailed protocol of a novel skin
electroporation approach via combination of a microneedle roller and a flexible interdigitated electroporation array (FIEA) for efficient delivery of DNA and siRNA into mouse skin. This electroporation protocol
assisted by punching with the microneedle roller represents significant advantages over treatment with
electroporation alone, allowing successful nucleic acid transportation at low voltage, with ideal safety
outcomes. We describe the details of fabrication process of the FIEA, experiment preparation, and mouse
thigh skin electroporation.
Key words Electroporation, Microfabrication, Transdermal delivery, Microneedle, Flexible electrode,
Nuclei acid delivery
1 Introduction
Transdermal drug delivery offers an alternative to oral administration and hypodermic injection to facilitate bioavailability for high
accessibility and observability, coupled with the advantages of the
user-friendly route and improved patient compliance [1, 2]. There
are a variety of immune cell types in the skin including keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and antigen-presenting cells; thus, transdermal
delivery of gene therapeutic agents has shown obvious responses in
animal models [3–5]. Hence, transdermal gene therapies represent
plentiful promise to clinical applications for treating various skin
disorders and systemic diseases. However, the skin holds a formidable barrier for transdermal transport of hydrophilic and macromolecular drugs mainly due to the stratum corneum [6].
Shulin Li et al. (eds.), Electroporation Protocols: Microorganism, Mammalian System, and Nanodevice,
Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2050, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9740-4_11,
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
101
Transdermal Delivery of Nucleic Acid Mediated by Punching
and Electroporation
Dong Huang, Yuanyu Huang, and Zhihong Li
Abstract
Transdermal delivery of gene medicine holds a great promise in gene therapy, and electroporation-mediated
method is a high-efficiency drug transfer technique. Traditional skin electroporation approaches require
high voltage that may cause severe injure. In this chapter, we provide a detailed protocol of a novel skin
electroporation approach via combination of a microneedle roller and a flexible interdigitated electroporation array (FIEA) for efficient delivery of DNA and siRNA into mouse skin. This electroporation protocol
assisted by punching with the microneedle roller represents significant advantages over treatment with
electroporation alone, allowing successful nucleic acid transportation at low voltage, with ideal safety
outcomes. We describe the details of fabrication process of the FIEA, experiment preparation, and mouse
thigh skin electroporation.
Key words Electroporation, Microfabrication, Transdermal delivery, Microneedle, Flexible electrode,
Nuclei acid delivery
1 Introduction
Transdermal drug delivery offers an alternative to oral administration and hypodermic injection to facilitate bioavailability for high
accessibility and observability, coupled with the advantages of the
user-friendly route and improved patient compliance [1, 2]. There
are a variety of immune cell types in the skin including keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and antigen-presenting cells; thus, transdermal
delivery of gene therapeutic agents has shown obvious responses in
animal models [3–5]. Hence, transdermal gene therapies represent
plentiful promise to clinical applications for treating various skin
disorders and systemic diseases. However, the skin holds a formidable barrier for transdermal transport of hydrophilic and macromolecular drugs mainly due to the stratum corneum [6].
Shulin Li et al. (eds.), Electroporation Protocols: Microorganism, Mammalian System, and Nanodevice,
Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2050, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9740-4_11,
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
101