Exploring the Depths of Percutaneous Penetration
By: Elsa Jungman, Université Paris-Sud
Posted: July 3, 2012
The Perspectives in Percutaneous Penetration (PPP) conference was held at the Palais des Congrès de La Grande Motte on April 10–14, 2012. For more than two decades, the conference has provided a unique forum for the interchange of ideas on percutaneous penetration among the academic, industrial and regulatory sectors. The event provides an optimized combination of plenary lectures, oral contributions, poster sessions and debates combined with an appropriate experience of local culture. Following are some highlights most relevant to the cosmetics and personal care industry.
Pre-conference Fundamentals
The event opened with a full day pre-conference course on the fundamentals of percutaneous penetration. Michael Roberts, of the University of Queensland, Australia, presented a general overview of skin structure and function. This was followed by a discussion of skin transport mechanisms and permeation enhancement, by Kenneth Walters, PhD, of An-eX Analytical Services Ltd. Various penetration enhancement strategies were presented; from pyrrolidones, anionic and nonionic surfactants, fatty acids and alcohols, to terpenes, a synthetic enhancer: azone, and sunscreens.
Darren M. Green, PhD, also of An-eX, highlighted methods for measuring percutaneous penetration, which for cosmetics, is important for risk assessments and claims substantiation. Green explained there are major limitations of mathematical models because physiological and formulation effects are not taken into account. Further, the theoretical values from the Potts and Guy model do not help to predict permeability coefficients.
Joke Bowstra, PhD, of the Leiden/Amsterdam Center for Drug Research, showed the importance of skin barrier in drug transport and more specifically, the role of epidermal lipids. Finally, Heinz Ahlers of the US Department of Health and Human Services presented on the use of skin notation in the prevention of occupational skin disease.
The first day ended with a welcome reception including a typical French buffet with a nice glass of wine.