IN-VIVO NONINVASIVE EVALUATION OF HAIRLESS RAT SKIN AFTER HIGH-VOLTAGE PULSE EXPOSURE

Short high-voltage pulses have recently been shown to dramatically inc rease and expedite transdermal drug transport via a mechanism hypothes ized to involve electroporation, This study addresses tolerance issues of the method in vivo in hairless rat. Chromametry, transepidermal wa ter loss (TEWL), laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) and corneometry were jo intly used for noninvasive sensing of skin biophysical parameters. Sli ght increases in skin redness, TEWL and LDF values followed the applic ation of electric pulses. The changes in skin capacitance were nonsign ificant. The magnitude of the alterations depended on the electrical f eatures of the pulses. When compared to iontophoresis, high-voltage pu lses did not induce stronger alterations of skin functions. This repor t provides the first in vivo demonstration of the safety of the high-v oltage pulses proposed for transdermal delivery.