Lipid-coated membranes as skin surrogates for permeability assessment

There is a growing interest in developing in vitro skin models, particularly in the fields of skin care and drug delivery regarding optimization of topical drug formulations. The ban of animal experiments for cosmetic products testing has led to the development of alternative in vitro methods. The aim of this study was to develop and characterize simplified, cell-free, lipid-coated membrane models, exploring the usefulness and the potential application of these membranes in comparison to commercial synthetic membrane and to porcine skin. In these model membranes, lipids are deposited onto a polycarbonate membrane to create lipid-rich coated membranes. Two types of lipid-coated membranes were explored depending on the type of lipids used. In one type (phospholipidic), membranes were prepared depositing soybean phosphatidylcholine liposomes and in the other type (non-phospholipidic), major components of the stratum corneum lipid matrix were used to coat the polycarbonate membrane. Coating process was performed using drying and centrifugation steps. Under infinite dose conditions, and caffeine as permeant, high permeation correlation between developed membranes and pig skin was obtained, and similar permeation pro-files were obtained through phospholipidic and non-phospholipidic membranes. This study demonstrated the potential of the developed membranes to conduct permeation studies using Franz-type diffusion cells, and the simplication process to produce lipid-coated membranes. © 2022 Acta Materialia Inc.