Shed king cobra and cobra skins as model membranes for in-vitro nicotine permeation studies

Abstract

Shed king cobra skin (SKCS) and shed cobra skin (SCS) were investigated for use as barrier membranes, including some pre-hydration factors, for in-vitro nicotine permeation. Inter-specimen variations in nicotine fluxes using shed snake skin were compared with those using human epidermis. Nicotine in the form of 1% w/v aqueous buffer solution at pH 5 and transdermal patches (dose 14 mg day(-1)) were used. The nicotine fluxes across the shed snake skin were not significantly affected (P > 0.05) by temperature and duration of hydration pre-treatment. Scanning electron micrographs of SKCS and SCS revealed a remarkable difference in surface morphology, but the nicotine fluxes using both shed skins were not significantly different (P > 0.05). When compared with the results obtained using human epidermis, there were similarities in fluxes and permeation profiles of nicotine. Using nicotine solution, the nicotine permeation profiles of all membranes followed zero order kinetics. The amount of nicotine permeated provided good linearity with the square root of time over 24 h (R(2) > 0.98) when using nicotine patches. The nicotine fluxes using SKCS and SCS had less inter-specimen variation than those using human epidermis. The results suggest a potential use for SKCS or SCS as barrier membranes for in-vitro nicotine permeation studies.

Development and Evaluation of Ketoprofen Acrylic Transdermal Patches

“…Ketoprofen flux increased when ketoprofen content in the patches was increased. These results are similar to those obtained for nicotine acrylic patch [11,12]. The higher the ketoprofen content of the patch, the higher the diffusion activity of the drug; furthermore, the higher drug content reduces the relative amount polymer matrix, thus lowering the diffusional barrier to the drug.…”

Comparative Permeation Studies between Scale Region of Shed Snake Skin and Human Skin In vitro

“…It is a non-living tissue which can be obtained without sacrifices, lacks hair follicles, and gives less variation than human or animal skin. Shed skins of several snakes, such as Elaphe obsoleta [3,5,6,7,8] , Python reticulatus [9] and Ophiophagus hannah [10] , have been investigated. Haigh et al [7] emphasized the effect of species, sites and regions of the shed snake skin used.…”

Shed Skin of Ophiophagus hannah: Structural Topography and In Vitro Permeation of Nicotine and Phenol

“…King cobras (Ophiophagus hannah) molt periodically and repeatedly giving shed skins which behave as a barrier membrane [1] . Shed skins from different regions, dorsal and ventral or hinge and scale, of 3 species of snakes were different in surface topography and diffusion characteristics [2] .…”

“…Shed skins from different regions, dorsal and ventral or hinge and scale, of 3 species of snakes were different in surface topography and diffusion characteristics [2] . Attempts to utilize shed snake skin, a natural waste, as a membrane for drug permeation testing, were first introduced by Higuchi and Kans [3] and followed by several others [1,2,4,5,6,7,8] . Several compounds penetrated certain shed snake skins, with similar thicknesses and lipid contents to human stratum corneum, at similar rates as human stratum corneum [2,9,10] .…”

“…1. It was shown that the permeation of these compounds was affected by pH [1,12] , thus, it was designed to control the pH of donor at 5 (mimicking the skin pH) and receptor at 7.4 (mimicking physiological pH). This study was designed to investigate the permeation characteristics of phenol and nicotine alkaloid at toxic concentration levels through shed skin of king cobra and revealed of its structural topography.…”