Enhancing drugs absorption through third-degree burn wound eschar

Abstract Antimicrobial therapy remains the most important method of wound infection treatment. Systemically administered antimicrobials may not achieve therapeutic levels in wound. On the other hand, some topically applied antimicrobials cannot penetrate eschar well enough. Therefore, an attempt has been made here to increase permeation of topically applied drugs through eschar using the so-called skin penetration enhancers. To perform this investigation, effects of different potential penetration enhancers on permeation of chlorhexidine, silver sulfadiazine and nitroglycerin through human third-degree burn eschar was evaluated. Results showed that water, glycerin, saline, sodium lauryl sulphate (SDS) and ethanol tend to reduce permeation of chlorhexidine through burn eschar. But, water, glycerin, hexane:ethanol and ethyl acetate:ethanol were able to increase permeation of silver sulfadiazine significantly by about 1.2–1.8 times, while saline, SDS and dimethyl sulfoxide were not able to change its permeation. Glycine showed 2.7 times enhancement toward permeation of nitroglycerin, followed by water, hexane:ethanol mixture, saline and SDS with enhancement ratios of 1.8–2.3. Urea, ethanol and citral were not able to increase permeation of nitroglycerin through eschar. This study shows that permeation of drugs through burn eschar can be improved by penetration enhancement including hydration; the effect depends on the nature of the penetrant.