EFFECT OF D-LIMONENE ON THE TRANSDERMAL PERMEATION OF NIFEDIPINE AND DOMPERIDONE

The aim of this research is to study the profile of transdermal permea tion of nifedipine and domperidone. Permeation studies were carried ou t using the skin of hairless rat and human skin as a membrane mounted in a permeation system in vitro. The influence of the type of skin use d and the presence of d-limonene on the transdermal penetration of the se drugs were studied. The drugs studied permeate approx. 3 times fast er through rat skin than through human skin. The type of skin has no i nfluence on the lag time. d-limonene increases the values of the perme ability constant (K-p), flux (J) and lag time (T-l) for both drugs, bu t not the lag time for domperidone when human skin is used. The effect of the enhancer on the enhancement index (EI) of domperidone varies w ith the type of skin used (EI = 15.7 (rat skin) and EI = 7.7 (human sk in)). When human skin is used, although penetration is increased by d- limonene, the concentration Values predicted at steady state are below therapeutic levels for both studied drugs.