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Glycerol and urea can be used to increase skin permeability in reduced hydration conditions.

Björklund, Sebastian LU ; Engblom, Johan ; Thuresson, Krister and Sparr, Emma LU (2013) In European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 50(5). p.638-645
Abstract
The natural moisturizing factor (NMF) is a group of hygroscopic molecules that is naturally present in skin and protects from severe drying. Glycerol and urea are two examples of NMF components that are also used in skin care applications. In the present study, we investigate the influence of glycerol and urea on the permeability of a model drug (metronidazole, Mz) across excised pig skin membranes at different hydrating conditions. The degree of skin hydration is regulated by the gradient in water activity across the membrane, which in turn depends on the water activity of the formulation in contact with the skin membrane. Here, we determine the water activity of all formulations employed using an isothermal calorimetric method. Thus, the... (More)
The natural moisturizing factor (NMF) is a group of hygroscopic molecules that is naturally present in skin and protects from severe drying. Glycerol and urea are two examples of NMF components that are also used in skin care applications. In the present study, we investigate the influence of glycerol and urea on the permeability of a model drug (metronidazole, Mz) across excised pig skin membranes at different hydrating conditions. The degree of skin hydration is regulated by the gradient in water activity across the membrane, which in turn depends on the water activity of the formulation in contact with the skin membrane. Here, we determine the water activity of all formulations employed using an isothermal calorimetric method. Thus, the gradient in water activity is controlled by a novel experimental set-up with well-defined boundary conditions on both sides of the skin membrane. The results demonstrate that glycerol and urea can retain high steady state flux of Mz across skin membranes at dehydrating conditions, which otherwise would decrease the permeability due to dehydration. X-ray diffraction measurements are performed to give insight into the effects of glycerol and urea on SC molecular organization. The novel steady state flux results can be related to the observation that water, glycerol, and urea all affect the structural features of the SC molecular components in a similar manner. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
volume
50
issue
5
pages
638 - 645
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000326363200011
  • pmid:23643739
  • scopus:84885959792
  • pmid:23643739
ISSN
1879-0720
DOI
10.1016/j.ejps.2013.04.022
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d04039f9-b466-4e34-9b4b-df7da69e44a6 (old id 3804885)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:17:40
date last changed
2022-04-20 00:36:50
@article{d04039f9-b466-4e34-9b4b-df7da69e44a6,
  abstract     = {{The natural moisturizing factor (NMF) is a group of hygroscopic molecules that is naturally present in skin and protects from severe drying. Glycerol and urea are two examples of NMF components that are also used in skin care applications. In the present study, we investigate the influence of glycerol and urea on the permeability of a model drug (metronidazole, Mz) across excised pig skin membranes at different hydrating conditions. The degree of skin hydration is regulated by the gradient in water activity across the membrane, which in turn depends on the water activity of the formulation in contact with the skin membrane. Here, we determine the water activity of all formulations employed using an isothermal calorimetric method. Thus, the gradient in water activity is controlled by a novel experimental set-up with well-defined boundary conditions on both sides of the skin membrane. The results demonstrate that glycerol and urea can retain high steady state flux of Mz across skin membranes at dehydrating conditions, which otherwise would decrease the permeability due to dehydration. X-ray diffraction measurements are performed to give insight into the effects of glycerol and urea on SC molecular organization. The novel steady state flux results can be related to the observation that water, glycerol, and urea all affect the structural features of the SC molecular components in a similar manner.}},
  author       = {{Björklund, Sebastian and Engblom, Johan and Thuresson, Krister and Sparr, Emma}},
  issn         = {{1879-0720}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{638--645}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences}},
  title        = {{Glycerol and urea can be used to increase skin permeability in reduced hydration conditions.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejps.2013.04.022}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ejps.2013.04.022}},
  volume       = {{50}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}