The emergence of microneedle arrays (MNAs) as a novel, simple, and minimally invasive administration approach largely addresses the challenges of traditional drug delivery. In particular, the dissolvable MNAs act as a promising, multifarious, and well-controlled platform for micro-nanotransport in medical research and cosmetic formulation applications. The effective delivery mostly depends on the behavior of the MNAs penetrated into the body, and accurate assessment is urgently needed. Advanced imaging technologies offer high sensitivity and resolution visualization of cross-scale, multidimensional, and multiparameter information, which can be used as an important aid for the evaluation and development of new MNAs. The combination of MNA technology and imaging can generate considerable new knowledge in a cost-effective manner with regards to the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of active substances for the treatment of various diseases. In addition, noninvasive imaging techniques allow rapid, receptive assessment of transdermal penetration and drug deposition in various tissues, which could greatly facilitate the translation of experimental MNAs into clinical application. Relying on the recent promising development of bioimaging, this review is aimed at summarizing the current status, challenges, and future perspective on in vivo assessment of MNA drug delivery by various imaging technologies.
The quinolone antibiotics represented by enrofloxacin (ENRO) are harmful to the ecological environment and human health due to illegal excessive use, resulting in increasing food residues and ENRO levels in the environment. To this end, we developed a MIPs–SERS method using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) to detect ENRO in food matrices. Firstly, a layer of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) with the best SERS effect was synthesized on the surface of copper rods as the enhancing material by in situ reductions, and then MIPs targeting ENRO were prepared by the native polymerization reaction, and the MIPs containing template molecules wrapped on the surface of silver nanoparticle films (Ag NPs–MIPs) were obtained. Our results showed that the Ag NPs–MIPs could specifically identify ENRO from the complex environment. The minimum detection limit for ENRO was 0.25 ng/mL, and the characteristic peak intensity of ENRO was linearly correlated to the concentration with a linear range of 0.001~0.1 μg/mL. The experimental results showed that in comparison to other detection methods, the rapid detection of ENRO in food matrices using Ag NPs–MIPs as the substrate is reliable and offers a cost-effective, time-saving, highly selective, and sensitive method for detecting ENRO residues in real food samples.
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