Development of a portable iontophoretic drug delivery device with in-vitro experiments for androgeneticalopecia treatment

ABSTRACT

This study presents the development of a portable drug delivery device using an iontophoresis method to treat the androgenetic alopecia with in-vitro experiment. To treat this condition, the drugs for alopecia treatment need to be delivered into the scalp. Therefore, iontophoretic stimulation was used in a portable drug delivery device to enhance the penetration of the drug delivery. The designed device consisted of a drug container, an iontophoretic stimulation part and a rechargeable part. The iontophoretic part included a voltage boosted circuit, a protection circuit to achieve the iontophoresis effect and to protect the device. The device was tested with an oscilloscope and an in-vitro experiment was also performed to test the operation of the device. According to the experiment's results, the iontophoresis circuit board performed well as did the designed drug delivery device. And the results of the in-vitro experiment also performed well with the penetration enhanced drug delivery via stimulation with the iontophoresis method. The presented portable iontophoretic device enhances the penetration of the drug delivery as proven by the experiment. Also, a positive feature of the device is that it allows patients to use it everywhere by themselves. Improving the device's functionality and usage safety will be researched in the future