Drug release and skin penetration from solid lipid nanoparticles and a base cream: a systematic approach from a comparison of three glucocorticoids.

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) can enhance drug penetration into the skin, yet the mechanism of the improved transport is not known in full. To unravel the influence of the drug-particle interaction on penetration enhancement, 3 glucocorticoids (GCs), prednisolone (PD), the diester prednicarbate (PC) and the monoester betamethasone 17-valerate (BMV), varying in structure and lipophilicity, were loaded onto SLNs. Theoretical permeability coefficients (cm/s) of the agents rank BMV (-6.38) ≥ PC (-6.57) > PD (-7.30). GC-particle interaction, drug release and skin penetration were investigated including a conventional oil-in-water cream for reference. Both with SLN and cream, PD release was clearly superior to PC release which exceeded BMV release. With the cream, the rank order did not change when studying skin penetration, and skin penetration is thus predominantly influenced by drug release. Yet, the penetration profile for the GCs loaded onto SLNs completely changed, and differences between the steroids were almost lost. Thus, SLNs influence skin penetration by an intrinsic mechanism linked to a specific interaction of the drug-carrier complex and the skin surface, which becomes possible by the lipid nature and nanosize of the carrier and appears not to be derived by testing drug release. Interestingly, PC and PD uptake from SLN even resulted in epidermal targeting. Thus, SLNs are not only able to improve skin penetration of topically applied drugs, but may also be of particular interest when specifically aiming to influence epidermal dysfunction.

Drug penetration as studied by noninvasive methods: fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection, fourier transform infrared, and ultraviolet photoacoustic spectroscopy.

The penetration of the drugs dithranol and methoxsalen from semisolid Vaseline formulation into an artificial dodecanol-collodion membrane was followed by three spectroscopic methods; they are, step-scan Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) with phase modulation, FTIR-attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR), and ultraviolet (UV) PAS. The uptake of the drug in the membrane was quantified by monitoring the dependence of an appropriate drug band on the penetration time. The PAS experiments were carried out with various modulation frequencies for generating various sampling depths. Based on Fick's second law, the diffusion coefficient was derived by numerical fitting of the experimental data. It appears that the diffusion coefficient for the drug in the membrane depends on the distance. The comparative studies demonstrate that FTIR-ATR is favored for permeation studies, whereas the PAS techniques are capable of providing the drug penetration profile in the membrane. Thus, extended experimental data are available for new insight into the penetration process. However, because of the photacoustic cells at hand, PAS is only suitable for in vitro studies.

[The cutaneous bioavailability of alpha-chymotrypsin from ointments]. / Cercetari privind biodisponibilitatea cutanata a alfa-chimotripsinei din unguente.

In view of improving the cutaneous bioavailability of alpha-chymotrypsin from ointments, the stability of this enzyme in two hydrophile ointment bases, macrogoli and carbopol, was tested. The cutaneous bioavailability of alpha-chymotrypsin in ointments, estimated by determining the anti-inflammatory action, underlines the important role played both by the ointment base and by the enzyme activating substances. By correlating the determinations of alpha-chymotrypsin enzymatic activity with the anti-inflammatory action a correlation between the manifested activity and the active substance stability was noticed.