AN IN-VITRO COMPARISON OF THE PERMEATION OF CHEMICALS IN VAPOR AND LIQUID-PHASE THROUGH PIG SKIN

This study used pig skin to compare vapor and liquid permeation of ben zene, n-butanol, and toluene in vitro. Vapors of radio-labeled chemica ls were generated by passing purified air through two saturators in se ries containing the labeled chemical. The generated vapor was directed into the donor compartment of a modified liquid permeation cell. For liquid permeation experiments, neat chemicals were dosed directly on t he surface of the skin. The variability of the generated concentration s for the vapor phase of each chemical ranged from 3-7%. The mean flux of the liquid chemicals was significantly higher than those of the va por phase. There was no significant difference in the flux of the indi vidual chemicals in the liquid phase. In the vapor phase test, the flu x of toluene and benzene were not significantly different; however, fo r n-butanol the flux was significantly lower than the for either benze ne or toluene.