IDEA AG - Science - Relevant Publications

<p align="left"><b>Ultra-high efficiency of drug and peptide transfer through the intact skin by means of novel drug-carriers, Transfersomes</b></p> <p align="left">G. Cevc, A. Schätzlein, D. Gebauer, and G. Blume</p> <p align="left">Medizinische Biophysik, Urologische Klinik und Poliklinik, Klinikum r.d.I. Technische Universität München, Ismaningerstr. 22, 8000 München 80, Germany </p> <p align="left"><b>In: Prediction of Percutaneous Penetration. (Bain, K. R., Hadgkraft, J., W. J. James, K. A. Water, eds.), STS Publishing, Cardiff, 1993, Volume 3b, pp 226-234.</b></p> <p align="left">In order to penetrate efficiently through the permeability barrier lipid vesicles should be flexible enough to ensure that the energetic cost of their elastic deformation will be smaller than the work that can be delivered by the penetration-driving force. Dermally applied standard lipid vesicles do not fulfil this requirement. High vesicle penetration rates, consequently, can only be achieved by using specially designed, ultraflexible drug carriers, Transfersomes. </p> <p align="left">Transepidermal lipid concentration gradients can only drive very small material fluxes across the intact skin (< 1 ng h^-1 cm^-2). Such gradients, consequently, are of little practical value in the context of drug delivery. It is predominantly the water-concentration gradient in the upper skin layers which may push noticeable amounts of the superficially applied lipid vesicles into the dermis provided that the carrier deformability is high enough. The simplest highly deformable vesicles, Transfersomes, consist of a common phospholipid mixed with an edge-active component. The elasticity of the resulting optimised mixtures may be up to three orders of magnitude higher than for the standard lipid vesicles, liposomes. This explains why Transfersomes in contrast to liposomes can be used for the non-invasive transdermal agent delivery. For the same reason skin occlusion may block entirely the vesicle penetration into the depth of the skin. </p> <p align="left">The efficacy and the depth of lipid vesicle penetration in the intact skin are strongly affected by the carrier type and composition. They also depend on the applied carrier dose. Standard vesicles made from nearly pure phosphatidylcholine at all applied doses only bring insignificant amounts of their associated material across the intact skin. Transfersomes applied at small doses permeate across the skin rather inefficiently. Only when ultraflexible vesicles with an optimal composition are applied in sufficiently high but not excessive quantities they can transport up to 95% of their associated lipid mass into and through the intact horny layers. This offers means for the non-invasive drug delivery in humans and animals. </p> <p align="left">Multilitre quantities of sterile, well defined Transfersomes containing therapeutic agents can be-and have been-prepared relatively easily. It therefore should be not before long that the corresponding drug formulations will have found their way into clinics to be tested for the widespread usage.</p> <p><a href="index.html"><----</a> | <a href="../.././index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('What is special about IDEA?'); return true;">Home</a> | <a href="../../about-us/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('About IDEA history, people, external collaboratory and future plans.'); return true;">About us</a> | <a href="../../corporate_factsheet/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('Corporate Factsheet'); return true;">Corporate Factsheet</a> | <a href="../../science/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('Academic collaborations, publications, etc.'); return true;">Science</a> | Publications | <a href="../../product_opportunities/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('IDEA offers better compliance, local drug targeting and patent protection.'); return true;">Product opportunities</a> | <a href="../../financial/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('Investors and basic financial data.'); return true;">Finance</a> | <a href="../../press_releases/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('Original texts.'); return true;">Press releases</a> | <a href="../../latest_newsletter/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('IDEAS latest newsletter'); return true;">Latest newsletter</a> | <a href="../../press_clippings/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('IDEA in the press.'); return true;">Press clippings</a> | <a href="../../conferences/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('Here you will find many dates where you can meet us and where we can talk...'); return true;">Conferences</a> | <a href="../../career/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('We constantly seek best talents and dedication, offering much in return.'); return true;">Career</a> | <a href="../../contact/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('We would like to hear from you!'); return true;">Contact</a> | <a href="../../faq/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('Product bio/acceptability, liposome/Transfersome, ...'); return true;">Scientific FAQ</a> | <a href="../../glossary/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext(''); return true;">Glossary</a> | <a href="../../sitemap/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('Get an impression on IDEA!'); return true;">Site Map</a> | <a href="../../search/index.html" target="_top" onmouseover="putstattext('Find documents based on keywords!'); return true;">Search</a> |  </p>