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Transdermal Drug Delivery by Skin Electroporation in the Rat

  • Protocol
Book cover Electrochemotherapy, Electrogenetherapy, and Transdermal Drug Delivery

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Medicine ((MIMM,volume 37))

Abstract

Drug delivery across skin offers advantages over conventional modes of administration. It avoids gastrointestinal degradation and the hepatic first-pass effect, has potential for controlled and sustained delivery, is user-friendly and therefore improves patient compliance (1–2). However, because the skin’s outer layer, the stratum corneum, is an extremely effective barrier, transdermal transport of most drugs is very slow, exhibits lag times of hours and steadystate rates that are often subtherapeutic. Chemical and physical approaches to increasing transdermal transport have been explored. Recently, the intermittent application of short (e.g., milliseconds), high-voltage (e.g., 100 V across skin) pulses has been shown to increase transport across skin by several orders of magnitude on a time scale of minutes, probably by a mechanism involving electroporation (3–6).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, School of Pharmacy, Catholic University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium

    Rita Vanbever & Véronique Préat

Authors
  1. Rita Vanbever
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  2. Véronique Préat
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Florida College of Medicine, USA

    Mark J. Jaroszeski PhD  & Richard Heller PhD  & 

  2. University of South Florida College of Engineering, USA

    Richard Gilbert PhD

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© 2000 Humana Press Inc.

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Vanbever, R., Préat, V. (2000). Transdermal Drug Delivery by Skin Electroporation in the Rat. In: Jaroszeski, M.J., Heller, R., Gilbert, R. (eds) Electrochemotherapy, Electrogenetherapy, and Transdermal Drug Delivery. Methods in Molecular Medicine, vol 37. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-080-2:457

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-080-2:457

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-606-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-080-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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