Getting (Drugs) Under Your Skin: Using Ultrasound Waves, Researchers Boost Skin's Permeability to Drugs
Date: 18.9.2012
Using ultrasound waves, MIT engineers have found a way to enhance the permeability of skin to drugs, making transdermal drug delivery more efficient. This technology could pave the way for noninvasive drug delivery or needle-free vaccinations, according to the researchers.
Ultrasound -- sound waves with frequencies greater than the upper limit of human hearing -- can increase skin permeability by lightly wearing away the top layer of the skin, an effect that is transient and pain-free.
In a paper appearing in the Journal of Controlled Release, the research team found that applying two separate beams of ultrasound waves -- one of low frequency and one of high frequency -- can uniformly boost permeability across a region of skin more rapidly than using a single beam of ultrasound waves.
