Development of a Dynamic Skin Permeation System for Long-Term Permeation Studies

Abstract

A dynamic skin permeation system was developed aiming to eliminate the deficiencies observed in the apparatus currently available. It consists of two half-cells in mirror image, each contains a stirring platform to permit a starhead magnet to rotate at a synchronous speed. The solution chamber is equipped with a sampling port, which can be tightly closed with glass stopper. The design characteristics of this new system was calibrated, using the commercially available Franz diffusion cell as the reference. The results clearly suggested that this newly developed skin permeation system shows consistently superior than the Franz diffusion cell in terms of the control of skin surface temperature and the efficiency of solution mixing. To investigate the potential effect of environment, the temperature on the stratum corneum surface was varied, while the dermal solution was maintained at constant body temperature, and its effect on the kinetics of skin permeation was studied. The energy requirements for various steps of skin permeation were determined. The results suggested that the skin permeation system developed in this investigation can be useful for the mechanistic analysis of long-term skin permeation kinetics.