Comparison of skin permeability of drugs in mice and human cadaver skin

In vitro percutaneous absorption of four antihypertensive drugs were carried out across the mice and human cavader skin in order to compare their skin permeability. An interesting trend was noticed in these experiments. Poorly water soluble drug prazosin hydrochloride showed 13 times enhanced flux in the mice skin whereas the steady-state flux of the water soluble drug propranolol hydrochloride was almost same in both human cadaver and mice skin. The permeation rate of prazosin hydrochloride and propranolol hydrochloride through the human cadaver skin fluctuated widely over time, but in mice skin, distinct trends were noticed. The study indicates that the overall permeation rate in mice skin is higher than that in the cadaver skin and the meeting of the target-flux in mice skin does not guarantee its good permeability in human skin.