Microneedling in the relief of pain in arthritis: a brief review

Abstract

Pain is the main symptom of arthritis. Microneedling is a new method of transdermal drug delivery that relives the pain in arthritis according to the mechanisms of pain in arthritis. This paper provides a review of the mechanisms of pain in arthritis and the use of different types of microneedles (MNs) in pain relief in arthritis. The mechanism of pain in arthritis is primarily a joint tissue lesion that causes the release of inflammatory factors by pro-inflammatory cells, resulting in pain. MNs can carry various drugs to reduce inflammatory factors, cartilage destruction and thus the symptom of pain. MNs can be classified into five types, which are solid MNs, hollow MNs, coated MNs, dissolving MNs, and swelling MNs. Among them, dissolving MNs and swelling MNs have better prospects for application in long-term management of pain in arthritis due to the biosafety of their materials and its convenience brought by the sustained-release design.