AI-Optimized Microneedle Platforms for Precision Occular Drug Delivery System

ABSTRACT: Ocular diseases are considered a primary cause of visual handicaps, and their management is often constrained by the eye's anatomical and physiological barriers. Traditional ocular drug delivery approaches — eye drops, ointments, systemic, periocular, and intravitreal injections — are commonly characterized by reduced bioavailability, rapid drug clearance, poor tissue penetration, and poor compliance. Microneedle (MN)-based ocular drug delivery systems have been proposed as a minimally invasive approach to overcome such limitations and have been demonstrated to enable targeted delivery to anterior and posterior ocular tissues. Dissolving, coated, hollow, bio-inspired, and cryo-microneedles have each been demonstrated to enhance bioavailability and sustain drug release while reducing dose frequency. Continuous improvements in material science, microfabrication, and biomedical engineering of ocular microneedles, along with the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) for microneedle design, formulation, drug release, computational modeling, and personalized therapy, have enabled such devices to offer a substantial improvement in terms of safety, precision, and therapeutic performance. Furthermore, the integration of biosensors with smart microneedles enables real-time monitoring of biomarkers. This review discusses ocular anatomy and the barriers to ocular drug delivery, the design, materials, and fabrication of ocular microneedles, and the potential role of AI in advanced ophthalmic diagnostics and therapies, including the use of AI in retinal screening, oculomics, gene correction, and smart biosensor-integrated microneedles. Current and future challenges relating to anatomical variability, dataset limitations, model bias, and regulatory interpretability are discussed, as well as the potential for AI-optimized microneedle platforms to revolutionize ocular drug delivery as a precision medicine approach.