title: Percutaneous absorption of coumarin, griseofulvin and propranolol across human scalp and abdominal skin.
abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate the role of the transfollicular pathway in the diffusion process of chemicals through excised human skin in vitro. Skin was obtained from 5 cadavers (3 males, 3 females) within 24 h of death. The age of the subjects varied between 18-77 years. Three radiolabelled drugs, namely 14C-coumarin, 3H-propranolol and 3H-griseofulvin, were studied. The permeation parameters such as flux, lag time, diffusion coefficient and permeability constant were determined across scalp and abdominal skin using the Thomas Diffusion Cell. For all tested substances the flux through scalp skin was higher than across abdominal skin and the lag time was decreased. The differences were statistically significant at p less than 0.05 for coumarin and propranolol. These data suggest that the transfollicular pathway in permeation might have a significant impact on the diffusion parameters for some drugs. Also, in the case of coumarin, permeability seems to be epidermis/dermis-controlled, whereas for griseofulvin and propranolol the Stratum corneum apparently is the permeability limiting barrier.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery Systems, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, OH.
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Ritschel
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sabouni
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Hussain
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D003374:Coumarins / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006118:Griseofulvin / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D011433:Propranolol / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D012535:Scalp; D012869:Skin Absorption
chemical_list: D003374:Coumarins; D006118:Griseofulvin; D011433:Propranolol