FEA-Guided Co-Design of Bubble Microneedles: Controlled Tip Separation for Rapid Transdermal and Sublingual Delivery

The study presents a finite element analysis (FEA)-guided co-design framework for developing separable bubble microneedles (BMNs) that optimize geometry and material properties for controlled tip separation and robust insertion. The research demonstrated that minoxidil sulfate-loaded BMNs (MXS-BMNs) and insulin-loaded BMNs (INS-BMNs) achieved effective transdermal and sublingual delivery, respectively. MXS-BMNs showed a sevenfold increase in minoxidil permeation compared to topical gel and accelerated hair regrowth in mice, while INS-BMNs provided rapid glucose reduction in diabetic rats. The FEA predictions closely matched experimental results, confirming the framework's efficacy in reducing empirical iteration and expediting microneedle system development.