Investigation of the permeation of model formulations and a commercial ibuprofen formulation in Carbosil® and human skin using ATR-FTIR and multivariate spectral analysis

The purpose of the present study was to use attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and target factor analysis (TFA) to investigate the permeation of model drugs and formulation components through Carbosil® membrane and human skin. Diffusion studies of saturated solutions in 50:50 water/ethanol of methyl paraben (MP), ibuprofen (IBU) and caffeine (CF) were performed on Carbosil® membrane. The spectroscopic data were analysed by target factor analysis, and evolution profiles of the signal for each component (i.e. the drug, water, ethanol and membrane) over time were obtained. Results showed that the data were successfully deconvoluted as correlations between factors from the data and reference spectra of the components, were above 0.8 in all cases. Good reproducibility over three runs for the evolution profiles was obtained. From the evolution profiles it was observed that water diffused better through the Carbosil® membrane than ethanol, confirming the hydrophilic properties of the Carbosil® membrane used. IBU diffused slower compared with MP and CF. The evolution profile of CF was very similar to that of water, probably because of the high solubility of CF in water, indicating that both compounds are diffusing concurrently. The second part of the work involved a study of the evolution profiles of the components of a commercial topical gel containing 5% (w/w) of ibuprofen as it permeated through human skin. Although the system was much more complex, data were still successfully deconvoluted and the different components of the formulation identified except for benzyl alcohol which might be attributed to the low concentrations of benzyl alcohol used in topical formulations. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Autoradiographic and scintillation analysis of 5-aminolevulinic acid permeation through epithelialised tissue: Implications for topical photodynamic therapy of superficial gynaecological neoplasias

Purpose. Aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) diffusion through both keratinised and non-keratinised tissue, used as a model tissue substrates, was evaluated, together with the depth of permeation and the concentration achieved following delivery from bioadhesive patch and proprietary cream formulations. Materials and Methods. Moisture-activated, bioadhesive patches loaded with 5-ALA at concentrations of 19.0, 38.0 and 50.0 mg cm(-2) and an o/w cream (20% w/w 5-ALA) were radiolabelled with C14 5-ALA and applied to excised human vaginal tissue and porcine skin. After 1, 2 and 4 h, tissue was sectioned in two orientations and the 5-ALA concentration at specific depths determined using autoradiography and liquid scintillation counting (LSC). Results. The stratum corneum was a significant barrier to 5-ALA permeation, with concentrations in tissue dependent on application time and drug loading. 5-ALA was detected at 6 mm using autoradiography after 2 h, with LSC showing phototoxic concentrations at 2.375 mm after 4 h of application. Inclusion of oleic acid and dimethyl sulphoxide in bioadhesive patches increased 5-ALA significantly in neonate porcine tissue, but only for patches cast from blends containing 5% w/w oleic acid. Conclusions. The bioadhesive patch described delivered 5-ALA to depths of at least 2.5 mm in tissue types indicative of vulval skin, suggesting that photodynamic therapy of deep vulval intraepithelial neoplasia is feasible using this means of bioadhesive 5-ALA delivery.

Strength and permeation properties as an indicator of durability of concrete

Durability of concrete is a great concern to all designers, owners and users of reinforced concrete structures. As a result, more restrictive regulations are being introduced in various Codes of Practice dealing with the design of these structures. Attempts are being made by various researchers to develop performance based specification. For this to be successful standard non destructive tests are required which will be used to assess the durability of concretes. In parallel with this approach, a research team in Queen’s University Belfast, U. K., investigated the effect of different mix parameters on workability, strength and various permeation properties. Furthermore, durability parameters such as freeze-thaw salt scaling resistance and carbonation depth were also investigated. The research was part funded by the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR). This paper reports of the findings from this study. The results from this investigation showed that some of the non destructive tests used were reasonably well correlated with carbonation and freeze-thaw salt scaling resistance of CEM I concrete. If the mix parameters such as aggregate-cement ratio or water-cement ratio are known, better correlation can be obtained. Further investigation is required varying other mix parameters including various aggregates, admixtures and air entrainments before the result can be used for developing mix design methods for durable concretes. Also long term site tests are required to validate the results obtained from the accelerated laboratory tests used to study the carbonation resistance and freeze-thaw salt scaling resistance.