Automated In Vitro Dermal Absorption (AIDA): Development of a Cost-Effective Diffusion Cell

Abstract

A new diffusion cell design is reported for conducting in vitro dermal absorption tests. This disposable cell was inexpensive to construct and reduces the risk of inter-test cross-contamination. A disadvantage was that the polymer material used adsorbed the lipophilic test compound, 14C-nonyl phenol. Data is presented for absorption of tritiated water and 14C-nonyl phenol in a dialysis membrane model, SnakeskinTM and for tritiated water in human skin (Kp = 6.3 ± 0.78 cm/h × 10⁻³). Further testing is needed to evaluate the capacity of the ‘Dispo’ cell for use with lipophilic test chemicals.

Keywords :

• AIDA
• Dermal Absorption
• Dialysis Membrane
• Diffusion Cell
• Nonyl Phenol

We wish to thank Dr. Conrad Watters and staff at the Ottawa Hospital for kindly providing the skin tissue. We also thank Drs. Jamie Nakai and Raymond Poon for helpful comments, and Dr. Ih Chu for research support and guidance. Finally we thank the Animal Defence League of Canada for financial support.