IONTOPHORETIC TRANSPORT OF VERAPAMIL AND MELATONIN THROUGH HAIRLESS MOUSE SKIN

In this work, iontophoretically assisted transport of verapamil throug h hairless mouse skin was investigated at pH 5.0, using melatonin as n eutral probe, in order to provide evidence for the existence of an ele ctro-osmotic phenomenon. The results obtained revealed that the flux o f verapamil through hairless mouse skin at pH 5.0 and ionic strength o f 0.22 M is 15 times enhanced at current density of 0.25 mA.cm-2 and r ises to 48 times at current density of 1.0 mA.cm-2. The iontophoretic verapamil flux is mainly due to electric transport. The flux of the ne utral molecule melatonin is not directly influenced by electric transp ort. In this case electro-osmotic transport dominates the iontophoreti c flux.