The development of an artificial skin membrane mimicking the lipid bilayer structure for in vitro permeation study

Abstract

In vitro permeation test is an important method to predict permeability of transdermal formulation. We developed a liquid crystal artificial skin membrane (LC ASM) with the combination of hydrophobic polydimethylsiloxane, hydrophilic chitosan network and liquid crystal to mimic the lipid structure, for preliminary in vitro permeation test. The characterization results suggested that polydimethylsiloxane formed the main framework of the artificial skin membrane and it contained crystalline compartment. It has good thermal stability and mechanical strength, with elastic modulus about 0.2–6.2 MPa. The permeation study of model drugs with different polarity, aminopyrine and lidocaine, ketoprofen, flurbiprofen, through the synthetic LC ASMs were carried out. Results indicated that a good correlation of the permeability coefficients between the liquid crystal artificial skin and the human skin permeation tests was obtained. Therefore, it was suggesting that a synthetic artificial skin membrane could be an alternative option for preliminary in vitro permeation test to evaluate of the permeability of drug compounds.