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Using a combinatorial approach to improve transdermal drug delivery At first glance, transdermal drug delivery offers a near-perfect solution to the sometimes complicated and cumbersome methods of drug administration. transdermal Drug Delivery (TDD) avoids invasive techniques, such as subcutaneous injection and intravenous deliver, and "first-pass" complications arising from detoxification processes of the liver. Additionally, the nature of TDD allows for a long term, controlled release administration of a drug, augmenting its therapeutic value. Despite these potential benefits that TDD offers, this route is not widely used because of the inherent barrier properties of the skin. The skin is the largest organ in the body, with the specific function to provide an almost impenetrable barrier to the external environment. The most external layer of the skin, the stratum corneum, made of densely packed, highly ordered, keratinized tissue provides the bulk of protection. Consequently, the major task in improving TDD involves making the stratum corneum more permeable. There have been a variety of methods employed, such as low-frequency ultrasound, electroporation, and iontophoresis to increase permeability. However, in this paper, we will focus specifically on using surfactant chemical enhancers to improve TDD. The chemical properties of surfactants have been widely studied, and have long been known to enhance TDD. The current methods of testing chemical enhancers are many times unproductive, which is primarily due to the low number of tests performed per area of skin. Additionally, the price of testing on human cadaver skin proves can be quite expensive. Discovering and confirming the efficacy of an enhancer can prove to be a costly process. Since the exact chemical mechanisms of TDD are not understood, using serial chemistry approaches to screen for chemical enhancers are rather inefficient. The main thrust of this project is to develop, design, and test a method to simultaneously, systematically, and economically study numerous chemical enhancers, using combinatorial methods. Return to the RISE 2000 project list |
