Some magnesium salts and a mixture of magnesium and calcium salts accelerate skin barrier recovery

The effects of four different magnesium salts on the cutaneous barrier reco very rate after barrier disruption were evaluated. We spread an aqueous sol ution of each salt on the flank skin of hairless mice, occluded the area wi th a plastic membrane for 20 min, and then left the skin surface to dry, Al l of the magnesium salts, except magnesium bis(dihydrogen phosphate), accel erated barrier repair. We next estimated the effects of magnesium chloride aqueous solutions which contained calcium chloride at different molar ratio s. When the calcium to magnesium ratio was lower than 1, the mixture accele rated barrier repair, The application of an aqueous solution of 10 mM magne sium chloride and 10 mM calcium chloride was found to hasten the barrier re covery more effectively than a solution of 10 mM magnesium chloride. These results suggest that the effects of these metal ions are different dependin g on the counter ion and/or the method of application.