Transport of β-aminopropionitrile through intact skin or scar tissue

Abstract

A lathyrogen, [C 14]aminopropionitrile (βAPN), was administered to 34 rats either in K-Y jelly or saline vehicles onto intact shaven skin or onto a healed splinted deep excision wound. The dynamics of βAPN transport and content in the skin or repair tissue was observed after 2, 5, 8, and 24 hr of topical administration. The repair tissue quickly absorbed the lathyrogen and reached maximum at the 2-hr sampling. The content of βAPN in the repair tissue was twice as high as that in K-Y jelly vehicle and remained high and stable for at least 24 hr only when βAPN was administered through a saline vehicle. The transport of βAPN through intact skin, irrespective of the vehicle tested, was slow and continuously increased. The study showed that almost 20% of the βAPN administered onto the wounded skin area was transported into the repair tissue within 2 hr. We suggest that, due to the absence of epidermal stratum corneum from the repair tissue, drugs, such as βAPN, penetrate quickly into the wound.