Characterization of a human lesioned-skin model to assess the influence of skin integrity on drug permeability

The stratum corneum (SC) is the skin's outermost layer, organized by clusters of corneocytes among a lipid matrix, acting as a barrier. This “brick and mortar” organization is modified in many skin diseases. We proposed a lesioned-skin model for assessing the permeability of topical formulations and the impact of skin integrity on the permeability of molecules. We anticipate that removal of the SC compromises the skin barrier function, making it more permeable, affecting the biopharmaceutics of topical formulations. By stripping with 25 strips (Corneofix®), the thickness of the SC was considerably reduced, exposing the viable epidermis. Transversal and upper views of the skin by electronic microscopy and histology confirm the removal of the SC. After, we evaluated the permeability of tacrolimus (Protopic®, 0.1 % and 0.03 %) by HPLC-UV. The non-lesioned skin presented 20–25 % of tacrolimus in the SC and no drug permeated through the skin’s inner layers. Contrary, the lesioned-skin model allowed the permeation of tacrolimus to the epidermis, dermis, and also in the receptor medium. These results highlight the importance of using diseased skin tissue as opposed to normal skin when assessing the permeability of pharmaceutical formulations for local topical delivery, closely mimicking the occurred events in clinical scenario.