On the Absorption of Drugs and Poisons from the Bladder and the Urethra

The Structure of the Human Vaginal Stratum Corneum and its Role in Immune Defense

“…Electron microscopy studies have also shown intercellular stacked lipid lamellae in human vaginal mucosa 17 , but they do not form an impermeable intercellular lipid envelope as they do in the epidermis. As a consequence, whereas the epidermal SC is relatively impermeable to water, the vaginal SC is permeable to water and soluble proteins 16,18,19 . A 3 H-thymidine uptake study showed that the minimum transit time of labelled keratinocytes from the basal layer of the human vaginal epithelium to the uppermost layer was 96 hours 20 ; since this epithelium is approximately 28 cell layers thick 21 , this study provides evidence that one cell layer is lost from the vaginal epithelium approximately every 4 hours.…”

Intravaginal rings as delivery systems for microbicides and multipurpose prevention technologies

“…The first report of vaginally administered drugs was published in 1918 by Macht, who demonstrated that several drugs, including morphine, atropine and potassium iodide, could be vaginally absorbed 20. The field of vaginal drug delivery has since flourished to include a diversity of applications, with numerous marketed products currently available for contraception (eg, IVRs: NuvaRing® [etonogestrel/ethinyl estradiol] [Merck & Co, Inc, Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA] and Progering® [progesterone] [Silesia Laboatorios, Santiago, Chile]; film: Vaginal Contraceptive Film® [nonoxynol-9] [VCF; Apothecus Pharmaceutical Corp, Oyster Bay, NY,USA]; and the sponge: Today® sponge [nonoxynol-9] [Mayer Laboratories Inc, Berkeley, CA, USA]), for hormone replacement therapy (IVRs: Femring® [estradiol acetate] [Warner Chilcott LLC, Rockaway, NJ, USA], Estring® [estradiol] [Pfizer, Inc, New York, NY, USA], and Fertiring® [progesterone] [Silesia Laboatorios]; creams: Premarin® [conjugated estrogens] [Pfizer, Inc, New York, NY, USA], Estrace® [estradiol] [Shire plc, Dublin, Ireland], Estrasorb™ [estradiol] [Medicis Pharmaceuticals Corp, Scottsdale, AZ, USA], and Ogen® [estropipate] [Pfizer, Inc]; and tablets: Premarin® and Vagifem® [estradiol] [Novo Nordisk, Bagsværd, Denmark]), for antimicrobial treatment (gel: Metrogel® [metronidazole] [Galderma Laboratories, Fort Worth, TX, USA]; creams: Cleocin® [clindamycin] [Pfizer, Inc], Clindesse® [Ther-Rx Corp, Chesterfield, MO, USA] or ClindaMax® [clindamycin phosphate] [Nycomed, Zurich, Switzerland], Gyne-Lotrimin® [Schering-Plough HealthCare Products, Inc, Memphis, TN, USA] or Mycelex® [Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Corp, Montville, NJ, USA] or Femcare® [clotrimazole] [Schering-Plough HealthCare Products, Inc, Memphis, TN, USA], Gynezol® [Parke-Med, SA] or Femstat® [butoconazole] [Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Corp], Monistat® [micon-azole nitrate] [Insight Pharmaceutical LLC, Trevose, PA, USA], Vagistat-1® [tioconazole] [Bristol-Myers Squibb, New York, NY, USA], and Terazol® [terconazole] [Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Titusville, NJ, USA]; suppositories: Cleocin, Terazol, and Monistat; tablets: Gyne-Lotrimin or Mycelex or Femcare), cervical ripening (vaginal insert: Cervidil® [dinoprostone] [Forest Laboratories, Inc, New York, NY, USA] and gel: Prepidil® [dinoprostone] [Pfizer, Inc]), and pregnancy termination (suppositories: Prostin E2® [dinoprostone] [Pfizer, Inc] and tablets: Cytotec® [misoprostol] [GD Searle and Co, Skokie, IL, USA]).…”

Recent advances in electrospun nanofiber vaginal formulations for women's sexual and reproductive health

“…(Ghalioungui, 1987); women were recommended to mix crocodile dung and acacia gum with sour milk or honey and to form the resulting thick paste into 4 a pessary for administration to the vagina for prevention of pregnancy (Christin-Maitre, 2013;Haimov-Kochman et al, 2005); the Eber's papyrus describes use of ground corn and celery ground in cow's milk for induction of labour (Haimov-Kochman et al, 2005). David Macht's 1918 seminal articleentitled 'On the absorption of drugs and poisons through the vagina'is widely regarded as one of the earliest to apply modern scientific methods to the administration of drugs to the human vagina. Prior to its publication, it was widely believed that the vagina was incapable of absorbing pharmacological agents systemically, and that the various vaginallyadministered products commonly used by women at the timeincluding medicated douches, tampons, ovules, and 'uterine wafers'only acted locally (Macht, 1918).…”