Characterization of an Ex Vivo Skin Model for the Assessment of Dexamethasone-Loaded Core Multishell-Nanocarriers

Standard experimental set-ups for the assessment of skin penetration are typically performed on skin explants with an intact skin barrier or after a partial mechanical or chemical perturbation of the stratum corneum, but they do not take into account biochemical changes. Among the various pathological alterations in inflamed skin, aberrant serine protease (SP) activity directly affects the biochemical environment in the superficial compartments, which interact with topically applied formulations. It further impacts the skin barrier structure and is a key regulator of inflammatory mediators. Herein, we used short-term cultures of ex vivo human skin treated with trypsin and plasmin as inflammatory stimuli to assess the penetration and biological effects of the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone (DXM), encapsulated in core multishell-nanocarriers (CMS-NC), when compared to a standard cream formulation. Despite a high interindividual variability, the combined pretreatment of the skin resulted in an average 2.5-fold increase of the transepidermal water loss and swelling of the epidermis, as assessed by optical coherence tomography, as well as in a moderate increase of a broad spectrum of proinflammatory mediators of clinical relevance. The topical application of DXM-loaded CMS-NC or DXM standard cream revealed an increased penetration into SP-treated skin when compared to untreated control skin with an intact barrier. Both formulations, however, delivered sufficient amounts of DXM to effectively suppress the production of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and Thymic Stromal Lymphopoietin (TSLP). In conclusion, we suggest that the herein presented ex vivo inflammatory skin model is functional and could improve the selection of promising drug delivery strategies for anti-inflammatory compounds at early stages of development. View Full-Tex

Application of Single Molecule Fluorescence Microscopy to Characterize the Penetration of a Large Amphiphilic Molecule in the Stratum Corneum of Human Skin

We report here on the application of laser-based single molecule total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) to study the penetration of molecules through the skin. Penetration of topically applied drug molecules is often observed to be limited by the size of the respective drug. However, the molecular mechanisms which govern the penetration of molecules through the outermost layer of the skin are still largely unknown. As a model compound we have chosen a larger amphiphilic molecule (fluorescent dye ATTO-Oxa12) with a molecular weight >700 Da that was applied to excised human skin. ATTO-Oxa12 penetrated through the stratum corneum (SC) into the viable epidermis as revealed by TIRFM of cryosections. Single particle tracking of ATTO-Oxa12 within SC sheets obtained by tape stripping allowed us to gain information on the localization as well as the lateral diffusion dynamics of these molecules. ATTO-Oxa12 appeared to be highly confined in the SC lipid region between (intercellular space) or close to the envelope of the corneocytes. Three main distinct confinement sizes of 52 ± 6, 118 ± 4, and 205 ± 5 nm were determined. We conclude that for this amphiphilic model compound several pathways through the skin exist