Modelling of pecutaneous drug permeation and investigation of penetration enhancer effect

Present study provides a short review concerning the applicable membranes for modelling the percutaneous drug permeation and about their importance. The theoretical introduction summarizes the transdermal drug permeation routes and enhancement strategies. Two penetration enhancers are presented, the Transcutol and a sucrose ester, the Sucrose laurate which can offer an interesting possibility. Various recently applied and tested membranes (synthetic membrane, human, animal and artificial skin) are shown, which can be used for modelling dermal drug permeation. Furthermore two investigation methods are demonstrated for examining the drug diffusion, penetration and permeation, the vertical Franz diffusion cell and the ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, which can offer possibility for studying the skin at molecular level, too. Our previous in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo experimental results support, that choosing the appropriate model membrane is of primary importance. Examining the drug permeation through the skin is indispensable to get information about the interactions between the drug, the penetration enhancers and the skin as well, and to study also the drug accumulation in the skin.