SHIELDED CORNEOSURFAMETRY AND CORNEOXENOMETRY - NOVEL BIOASSAYS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF SKIN BARRIER PRODUCTS

Objectives: One of the most frequent occupational and environmental in sults to the skin is linked to chronic exposure to weak irritants. The re is a need for new predictive tests assessing the efficacy of barrie r creams. Methods: Shielded variants of corneosurfametry and corneosur fametry are introduced as novel ex vivo bioassays applicable for compa ring protection to surfactants and organic solvents. Results: Both bio assays showed good reproducibility for each offending agent and skin-p rotective products. Significant differences in efficacy were indicated between the presumptive barrier products. Conclusions: Shielded corne osurfametry and corneoxenometry may be convenient bioassays to compare the protection afforded by topical products against specific offendin g compounds to the skin. They avoid animal testing and toxicological h azards in human testing. In addition, they are cheap, rapid and reprod ucible.