EFFECT OF HYDROPHILIC SOLVENTS ON ENHANCING TRANSDERMAL DELIVERY OF ALBUMIN

Objectives: Transdermal drug delivery suggests several advantages and has been vastly investigated over last decades.Chemical enhancers improve the quantity of drug penetration through the skin. In this study, hydrophilic solvents have been used as enhancers to promote dermal penetration of albumin.

Methods: 20 different formulations containing albumin and hydrophilic solvents were prepared. Transdermal absorption experiments for each formulation were performed using a diffusion cell and a slice of chicken skin as model at 32°C for 3 hours. Samples from the medium were withdrawn and analyzed for albumin concentration. Cumulative amounts of albumin were plotted for each formulation.

Results: After3 hours, 6.8, 5.8, 69.0, 7.9, 11.1, 25.2, 32.0, 98.0, 21.3 and 74.3 mg of albumin were passed through the skin, using formulations containing deionized water (DW), acetic acid, ethyl acetate (EA), methanol, ethanol, 2-propanol, isopropyl alcohol (IPA), glycerol, ethylene glycol (EG) and propylene glycol (PG), respectively.

Conclusion: PG, EA and glycerolcould act as enhancers for transdermal delivery of albumin. Such delivery was increased using 4 mL of them instead of 2 mL and using exposure time of 3 hours instead of 1.5 hours. The most effective enhancer was found glycerol, showing a maximum albumin permeation of 98.0 mg. Therefore, the study suggested using glycerol as enhancer for transdermal delivery of albumin or other similar proteins in cosmeceutical products.