Percutaneous penetration of acyclovir through excised hairless mouse and rat skin: effect of vehicle and percutaneous penetration enhancer.

The effects of vehicle and percutaneous penetration enhancer on the penetration of acyclovir through excised hairless mouse and rat skin were investigated. Four solvents, propylene glycol (PG), ethanol (ET), isopropanol (IPA), and isopropyl myristate (IPM), were employed as vehicles, in combination with four enhancers, 1-farnesylazacycloheptan-2-one (7FU), 1-geranylazacycloheptan-2-one (7GU), 1-geranylazacyclopentan-2-one (5GU), and 1-dodecylazacycloheptan-2-one (Azone). Acyclovir was suspended in vehicles to avoid the effect of the thermodynamic activity of acyclovir in the vehicle. The penetration of acyclovir through hairless mouse skin from IPA was enhanced by 7GU, whereas that from IPM was not affected. All combinations of vehicle and penetration enhancer were examined using rat skin. No effect of the enhancers was observed in the IPM vehicle. The estimated solubility parameters of vehicles and enhancers indicated that the polarities of IPM and the enhancers are similar, which prevents effective penetration of the enhancers from IPM. However, the penetration of acyclovir from the other vehicles was increased by the enhancers. The combination of hydrophilic vehicle and hydrophobic enhancer resulted in a large enhancing effect. The disappearance of the enhancers from the vehicle correlated with their enhancing activity, but other factors also seemed to affect the penetration enhancement of acyclovir.