Painless Skin Electroporation as a Novel Way for Insulin Delivery

Rigorous research efforts have been undertaken worldwide to develop a needle-free insulin delivery for many decades with limited success. This translational study aims to deliver insulin through skin with painless electroporation.A recently designed microelectrode array was used to deliver insulin in mice with diabetes under electroporation conditions that are painless and harmless on human skin.Under such condition, a therapeutic amount of insulin was delivered successfully through mouse skin. Electroporation alone increased insulin transport around 100-fold compared with passive diffusion. Increased skin temperature to 40°C for 20 min augmented insulin transport to 237-fold more than the control value. Repeated electroporation showed no harm on human skin.The results indicate the potential of painless delivery of insulin through human skin in future clinical practice.