Rheological characterization and permeation behavior of poloxamer 407-based systems containing 5-aminolevulinic acid for potential application in photodynamic therapy.

Topical application of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) in photodynamic therapy is of great interest because of avoiding systemic side effects with such an easy way of application. However, due to ALA's high polarity its dermal bioavailability is rather limited and thus, permeation enhancement of this active is of major interest in research. In a previous study, a semisolid poloxamer 407-based (POX), five-component system ("thermogel") was developed for permeation enhancement of ALA across isolated human stratum corneum. In the present study, five-component systems of systematically varied compositions were investigated both rheologically and in terms of permeation enhancement. The five-component systems contained water, a fixed combination of 1:1 of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and dimethyl isosorbide (DMIS) and a fixed ratio of 4:1 of POX to propylene glycol dicaprylocaprate (MIG). Rheological characterization showed that complex viscosity depended on IPA/DMIS and POX/MIG content. The gelation temperature (GT) was strongly influenced by interactions between MIG, IPA and DMIS. Regarding permeation behavior, several systems showing better permeation fluxes than the original "thermogel" were identified. Surprisingly, permeation flux did not inversely correlate with the complex viscosity, showing that permeation behavior may depend on a variety of further physicochemical characteristics including individual composition and microstructure of the respective formulation.