A bio-ballistic micro-jet for drug injection into animal skin using a Nd:YAG laser.

Imaging of the abdominal skin of a guinea pig after injecting a fluorescent probe and biotin via the laser-induced ballistic technique revealed the epidermal and dermal layers which were stained well below $$60~\upmu \hbox {m}$$ underneath the outer layer of the skin. An extensive network of cells was evident in the deeper layer of the stained dermis as the distributed fluorescein isothiocyanate dose was administered by repeated injection using a laser-based micro-jet. We performed optically controlled release of the drug by breaching the guinea pig's skin tissue targeting the region 10-400 $$\upmu \hbox {m}$$ beneath the outermost layer. Tissue damage was minimized by reducing the injection volume to approximately 100 nl per pulse. This was done using a micro-jet diameter equal to half of that of a conventional $$200~\upmu \hbox {m}$$ syringe needle. Thus, the optimally controlled delivery of liquid drugs using an irradiated laser pulse was shown to be possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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