TY - JOUR
T1 - Biocompatible Light Guide-Assisted Wearable Devices for Enhanced UV Light Delivery in Deep Skin
AU - Zhang, Hao
AU - Zhao, Hangbo
AU - Zhao, Xingyue
AU - Xu, Chenkai
AU - Franklin, Daniel
AU - Vázquez-Guardado, Abraham
AU - Bai, Wubin
AU - Zhao, Jeffrey
AU - Li, Kan
AU - Monti, Giuditta
AU - Lu, Wei
AU - Kobeissi, Aya
AU - Tian, Limei
AU - Ning, Xin
AU - Yu, Xinge
AU - Mehta, Sunita
AU - Chanda, Debashis
AU - Huang, Yonggang
AU - Xu, Shuai
AU - Perez White, Bethany E.
AU - Rogers, John A.
N1 - Funding Information:
H. Zhang and H. Zhao contributed equally to this work. The authors thank J.A.N.D. Soares for the help in measuring emission spectra of UVA LEDs, C.R. Haney and A. Birkha for taking and analyzing MRI images, J. E. Hornick for assistance in optical imaging. H. Zhang acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21974079). J.Z. and S.X. acknowledge support from a medical student research grant from the National Psoriasis Foundation (C#127036). S.M. acknowledges the support from Indo‐US Science and Technology Forum (Grant No. SERB‐IUSSTF‐2017/192). D.C. acknowledges the support from National Science Foundation (Grant No. ECCS‐1808045). This research was supported by the Querrey‐Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics at Northwestern University. This work used Northwestern University Micro/Nano Fabrication Facility (NUFAB), which is partially supported by Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS‐1542205), the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR‐1720139), the State of Illinois, and Northwestern University; Biological imaging facility at Northwestern University; the Skin Tissue Engineering and Morphology Core of the Northwestern University Skin Biology and Diseases Resource‐based Center (supported by NIH/NIAMS P30 AR075049); and facilities at Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign.
Funding Information:
H. Zhang and H. Zhao contributed equally to this work. The authors thank J.A.N.D. Soares for the help in measuring emission spectra of UVA LEDs, C.R. Haney and A. Birkha for taking and analyzing MRI images, J. E. Hornick for assistance in optical imaging. H. Zhang acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21974079). J.Z. and S.X. acknowledge support from a medical student research grant from the National Psoriasis Foundation (C#127036). S.M. acknowledges the support from Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (Grant No. SERB-IUSSTF-2017/192). D.C. acknowledges the support from National Science Foundation (Grant No. ECCS-1808045). This research was supported by the Querrey-Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics at Northwestern University. This work used Northwestern University Micro/Nano Fabrication Facility (NUFAB), which is partially supported by Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-1542205), the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR-1720139), the State of Illinois, and Northwestern University; Biological imaging facility at Northwestern University; the Skin Tissue Engineering and Morphology Core of the Northwestern University Skin Biology and Diseases Resource-based Center (supported by NIH/NIAMS P30 AR075049); and facilities at Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH
PY - 2021/6/2
Y1 - 2021/6/2
N2 - Phototherapy represents an attractive route for treating a range of challenging dermatological diseases. Existing skin phototherapy modalities rely on direct UV illumination, although with limited efficacy in addressing disorders of deeper tissue and with requirements for specialized illumination equipment and masks to shield unaffected regions of the skin. This work introduces a skin-integrated optoelectronic device that incorporates an array of UVA (360 nm) light emitting diodes in layouts that match those of typical lesional plaques and in designs that couple to biocompatible, penetrating polymer microneedle light waveguides to provide optical access to deep skin. Monte Carlo simulations and experimental results in phantom skin suggest that these waveguides significantly enhance light delivery to deep skin, with a >4-fold increase for depths of >500 µm. In ex vivo human skin, the devices show reduced measures of phototoxicity compared to direct illumination and enhanced modulation of gene expression relevant to sclerosing skin diseases. These systems are also compatible with design principles in soft, skin-compatible electronics and battery-powered wireless operation. Collectively, the favorable mechanical and light delivery properties of these devices expand possibilities in targeting of deep skin lesions beyond those attainable with clinical-standard UV light therapy approaches.
AB - Phototherapy represents an attractive route for treating a range of challenging dermatological diseases. Existing skin phototherapy modalities rely on direct UV illumination, although with limited efficacy in addressing disorders of deeper tissue and with requirements for specialized illumination equipment and masks to shield unaffected regions of the skin. This work introduces a skin-integrated optoelectronic device that incorporates an array of UVA (360 nm) light emitting diodes in layouts that match those of typical lesional plaques and in designs that couple to biocompatible, penetrating polymer microneedle light waveguides to provide optical access to deep skin. Monte Carlo simulations and experimental results in phantom skin suggest that these waveguides significantly enhance light delivery to deep skin, with a >4-fold increase for depths of >500 µm. In ex vivo human skin, the devices show reduced measures of phototoxicity compared to direct illumination and enhanced modulation of gene expression relevant to sclerosing skin diseases. These systems are also compatible with design principles in soft, skin-compatible electronics and battery-powered wireless operation. Collectively, the favorable mechanical and light delivery properties of these devices expand possibilities in targeting of deep skin lesions beyond those attainable with clinical-standard UV light therapy approaches.
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U2 - 10.1002/adfm.202100576
DO - 10.1002/adfm.202100576
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85103416649
SN - 1616-301X
VL - 31
JO - Advanced Functional Materials
JF - Advanced Functional Materials
IS - 23
M1 - 2100576
ER -
