• Medical Lasers
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.181-184
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• 2021

Scars can cause great psychological stress among patients. Currently, there are numerous topical agents, laser and surgical treatments available for skin rejuvenation and scar minimization. Laser-assisted drug delivery (LADD) is a treatment method that increases drug delivery by stimulating the skin physically and chemically to enhance the penetration of topical agents. This is one of the areas of great interest in the treatment of various skin diseases in addition to its use for cosmetic purposes. In particular, LADD is relatively non-invasive and has advantages in terms of accessibility and stability. Poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) is a collagen stimulator known to gradually restore skin volume by inducing inflammation and fibroplasia. Herein, we report a case of treatment of an atrophic scar with fractional carbon dioxide laser-assisted PLLA delivery.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• 제37권3호
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• pp.167-171
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• 2007

Itraconazole is one of the most potent antifungal agents available in the market today. However, the low bioavailability due to its poor-water solubility calls for an alternative formulation to the current oral type. A topical itra-conazole-containing formulation may be of use for several reasons including the opportunity to reduce adverse events and generate high local tissue levels, more rapid drug delivery, and lower systemic exposure. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the vehicles for topical skin delivery of itraconazole. The effect of formulations on the hairless mouse skin permeation and deposition of itraconazole was determined using Franz diffusion cells at $37^{\circ}C$. Benzyl alcohol in micro-emulsion significantly increased the solubility of itraconazole, thereby increasing the skin permeation rate. However, lipo-some formulation showed the lowest solubility and permeation rate of itraconazole. Although the solubility of itraconazole in hydrogel formulation was lower than that in microemulsion, skin permeation rate was significantly higher probably due to its adhesive property. Therefore, microemulsion-based hydrogel formulation is expected to synergistically increase the skin permeation rate and skin deposition of itraconazole.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제42권4호
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• pp.512-523
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• 2018

Background: 20(S)-Protopanaxadiol (20S-PPD) is a fully deglycosylated ginsenoside metabolite and has potent dermal antiaging activity. However, because of its low aqueous solubility and large molecular size, a suitable formulation strategy is required to improve its solubility and skin permeability, thereby enhancing its skin deposition. Thus, we optimized microemulsion (ME)-based hydrogel (MEH) formulations for the topical delivery of 20S-PPD. Methods: MEs and MEHs were formulated and evaluated for their particle size distribution, morphology, drug loading capacity, and stability. Then, the deposition profiles of the selected 20S-PPD-loaded MEH formulation were studied using a hairless mouse skin model and Strat-M membrane as an artificial skin model. Results: A Carbopol-based MEH system of 20S-PPD was successfully prepared with a mean droplet size of 110 nm and narrow size distribution. The formulation was stable for 56 d, and its viscosity was high enough for its topical application. It significantly enhanced the in vitro and in vivo skin deposition of 20S-PPD with no influence on its systemic absorption in hairless mice. Notably, it was found that the Strat-M membrane provided skin deposition data well correlated to those obtained from the in vitro and in vivo mouse skin studies on 20S-PPD (correlation coefficient $r^2=0.929-0.947$). Conclusion: The MEH formulation developed in this study could serve as an effective topical delivery system for poorly soluble ginsenosides and their deglycosylated metabolites, including 20S-PPD.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.233-241
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• 2005

Ursolic acid (UA), a bioactive triterpene acid, has been known to increase collagen content in human skin in addition to other actions such as anti-inflammatory, skin-tumor prevention and anti-invasion. However, it is poorly soluble in water. Therefore, we firstly prepared microemulsion system with benzyl alcohol, ethanol and Cremophor EL, RH 40 and Brij 35 as surfactant in order to increase solubility of UA and then prepared microemulsion was dispersed in o/w cream base for the topical delivery of UA in an effort to improve anti-wrinkle effect. The pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were developed and various microemulsion formulations were prepared using benzyl alcohol as an oil, Cremophor EL, RH 40 and Brij 35 as a surfactant. The droplet size of microemulsions was characterized by dynamic light scattering. The accumulation of VA in the skin from topical cream was evaluated in vitro using hairless mouse skins. The mean droplet size was $26.8{\pm}6.6$ nm for microemulsions II with Cremophor EL. All UA creams showed pseudoplastic flow and hysterisis loop in their rheogram, depending on the type of materials added in topical creams. The in vitro accumulation data demonstrated the UA topical cream prepared with the combination of Poloxamer 407 and Xanthan gum as a copolymer showed higher accumulation percentage than those prepared with either Poloxamer 407 or Xanthan gum. These results suggest that UA topical cream using microemulsion systems may be promising for the topical delivery of UA.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.161-164
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• 2002

Gentisic acid is a skin-whitening agent which inhibits the tyrosinase activity, an essential enzyme in the process of biological synthesis of melanin. Since melanin is synthesized in melanocytes located between the viable epidermis and dermis layer, drug amount delivered into the epidermis/dermis layer can provide valuable information for the biological effect of skin-whitening agents. The purpose of this study was to prepare the gentisic acid patches with 2% dodecylamine as enhancer, and to observe the in vitro skin permeation and in vivo skin deposition of gentisic acid. Gentisic acid in DuroTak 87-2510 patch formulation permeated across hairless mouse skin at the rate of $40.79\;{\mu}g/cm^2/hr$. In vivo study showed that the gentisic acid amount in both the stratum corneum and the viable epidermis/dermis increased with the increase of application time. The amount of gentisic acid in the stratum corneum was higher than that in the epidermis/dermis layer, and was expected to provide a reservoir effect even after removing the patches. Thus, the patch formulation seems to be useful for the topical delivery of skin-whitening agent into the epidermis/dermis layer, the target site.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• 제39권2호
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• pp.121-125
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• 2009

The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of applying the Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) as a tool to enhance the skin absorption of arbutin, a well-known skin-whitening agent. Arbutin solution or skin formulation was applied on the back of hairless mouse skin in vivo after IPL treatment, and then the skin deposition of arbutin was determined by HPLC. IPL treatment significantly increased the amount of arbutin in the skin after 6 hours when arbutin solution was applied 20 times. IPL also enhanced the skin deposition of arbutin when arbutin formulation was applied, although it was not significantly different. Significant increase of surface skin temperature was observed by IPL treatment, which might be a mechanism of the enhanced skin absorption of arbutin. These results suggest the feasibility of using IPL as a tool to increase the skin absorption of whitening agents, although further research needs to be conducted to understand its exact mechanism.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.259-265
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• 2002

Piroxicam is one of the NSAID, which is used in the systemic and topical treatment of a variety of inflammatory conditions. Conventionally, for topical use, the drug is formulated in gel. We designed an phonophoretic drug delivery system to investigate the piroxicam permeability and the influence of ultrasound application (continuous mode, pulsed mode), frequency (1.0 MHz, 3.0 MHz) and intensity $(1.0\;w/cm^2,\;1.5\;w/cm^2,\;2.0\;w/cm^2)$ with 0.5% piroxicam gel. Per cutaneous absorption studies were performed in vitro models to determine the rate of drug absorption via the skin. Permeation study using hairless mouse skin was performed at $37^{\circ}C$ using buffered saline (pH 7.4, 10% propylene glycol solution) as the receptor solution. Anti-inflammatory activity was determined using carrageenan-induced foot edema model in rat. A pronounced effect of ultrasound on the skin absorption of the piroxicam was observed at all ultrasound energy level studied. Ultrasound was carried out for 10 hr. The highest permeation was observed at intensity of $2.0\;w/cm^2$, frequency of 1.0 MHz and continuous output. The inclusion of phonophoresis was found to improve significantly the skin permeation in vitro and the anti-inflammatory activity in vivo.

• 한국군사과학기술학회지
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.434-442
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• 2022

Highly toxic chemical warfare agents(CWA) could be used in chemical warfare and terrorism. The protection of skin is crucial for civilians and soldiers, because the primary routes of exposure to CWA are inhalation and skin absorption. Thus, topical skin protectants(TSP) have been studied and developed in many countries to complement protective equipments. In this study, in-vitro test procedure was optimized and established using a flow-through diffusion cell system containing excised hairless mouse skin in an attempt to assess the effectiveness of various TSP formulations against nerve agent simulants. In addition, the test results on the formulations including the ingredients used in SERPACWA(Skin Exposure Reduction Paste Against Chemical Warfare Agent) and IB-1(TSP of Israel) were included, indicating that the formulations with perfluorinated compounds were more effective than the glycerin-based formulations.

• Macromolecular Research
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• 제17권12호
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• pp.969-975
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• 2009

This article describes the topical delivery and localization of budesonide through the hairless mouse skin. Two poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly($\varepsilon$-caprolactone)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-PCL-PEO) triblock copolymers (T 222 and T 252) having different CL:EO ratios were added in the preparation of budesonide particles stabilized with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and Tween 80 under ultrasonication. For comparison, a commercial PEO-PPO-PEO triblock copolymer (F68) was studied under the same condition. To demonstrate the effects of the triblock copolymer, the particle size of budesonide emulsion, entrapment efficiency, and in vitro release were measured and compared. The budesonide particles stabilized by the triblock copolymers had a diameter of ca. 350 nm with entrapment efficiencies of 66-76%. The In vitro release profiles of all samples showed an initial burst followed by sustained release. The skin penetration and permeation of budesonide were analyzed by using a Frantz diffusion cell. T 222 and T 252 exhibited higher total permeation amounts, but lower budesonide penetration amounts, than F68. The results suggest that the partitioning of budesonide in each skin layer can be adjusted in order to avoid skin thinning and negative immune response arising from the penetration of budesonide in blood vessels.

• 약학회지
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• 제56권3호
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• pp.152-157
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• 2012

Angelica gigas is one of the most widely used herbal medicines in Asia. Root extract of Angelica gigas is known to have anti-oxidant activity and skin whitening effect. The aim of this study was to prepare microemulsion system of root extracts of Angelica gigas for topical delivery. Microemulsion was successfully prepared by using MCT (medium chain triglyceride) as an oil phase, Labrasol as a surfactant, and the mixture of propyleneglycol and phosphatidylcholine (4 : 1) as a cosurfactant. In vitro and in vivo skin permeation and deposition of decursin, as a marker, was determined using hairless mouse. Microemulsion significantly increased the in vitro skin permeation of decursin for up to 12 hours and was significantly higher than the control (water). Moreover, microemulsion formulation showed significantly higher skin deposition of decursin compared to the control in both in vitro and in vivo studies. Thus, microemulsion could be a useful vehicle for topical application of root extracts of Angelica gigas.