Photomechanical transcutaneous delivery of macromolecules

Transcutaneous drug delivery has been the subject of intensive research. In certain situations, rapid transcutaneous delivery is very desirable. A mec hanical (stress) pulse generated by a single laser pulse was shown to trans iently increase the permeability of the stratum corneum in vivo. The barrie r function of the stratum corneum recovers within minutes. The increased pe rmeability during these few minutes allows macromolecules to diffuse throug h the stratum corneum into the viable (40 kDa dextran and 20 nm latex parti cles) were deposited into the skin using a photomechanical pulse generated by a single 23 ns laser pulse. This treatment can potentially be utilized i n therapies that currently require occlusive dressings for hours or day(s).