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4 Modelling drug permeation across the skin: a chemical engineering perspective

  • Daniel Sebastia-Saez , Tao Chen , Benjamin Deacon and Guoping Lian
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Chemical Engineering Principles Applied to Medicine
This chapter is in the book Chemical Engineering Principles Applied to Medicine

Abstract

This review provides insight on how the application of core chemical engineering concepts helps with current challenges in dermal permeation research from a mathematical modelling perspective. The skin fundamentally behaves like a diffusion reactor, where mass conservation featuring Fick’s diffusion flux can be applied to obtain the differential equations that govern the permeation of a chemical compound. Advanced phenomena like systemic circulation or complex thermodynamics can be added mathematically into the models to complement the diffusion equation. Depending on research objectives, the reach of these mechanistic continuum mechanics models can: i) consider the skin as a homogeneous compartment, where spatial dependency is overlooked, or ii) include detailed spatio-temporally-discretised geometric descriptions of complex features like the bricks-and-mortar layout of the stratum corneum. The capabilities of this powerful approach to study advanced topics in dermatological research are discussed. These include topics such as the role of the hair follicle as a shortcut to bypass the stratum corneum, the effect of evaporation during the application of multicomponent formulations, and the facilitation of skin permeation by means of external forces (i.e., electromagnetic fields and mechanical action). The chapter closes with a note on current challenges towards the future development of mechanistic skin Digital Twins, which are gaining further importance of late to avoid animal experimentation in dermatological research.

Abstract

This review provides insight on how the application of core chemical engineering concepts helps with current challenges in dermal permeation research from a mathematical modelling perspective. The skin fundamentally behaves like a diffusion reactor, where mass conservation featuring Fick’s diffusion flux can be applied to obtain the differential equations that govern the permeation of a chemical compound. Advanced phenomena like systemic circulation or complex thermodynamics can be added mathematically into the models to complement the diffusion equation. Depending on research objectives, the reach of these mechanistic continuum mechanics models can: i) consider the skin as a homogeneous compartment, where spatial dependency is overlooked, or ii) include detailed spatio-temporally-discretised geometric descriptions of complex features like the bricks-and-mortar layout of the stratum corneum. The capabilities of this powerful approach to study advanced topics in dermatological research are discussed. These include topics such as the role of the hair follicle as a shortcut to bypass the stratum corneum, the effect of evaporation during the application of multicomponent formulations, and the facilitation of skin permeation by means of external forces (i.e., electromagnetic fields and mechanical action). The chapter closes with a note on current challenges towards the future development of mechanistic skin Digital Twins, which are gaining further importance of late to avoid animal experimentation in dermatological research.

Chapters in this book

  1. Preface V
  2. List of contributing authors
  3. Part I Chemical engineering and medicine
  4. 1 A systems engineering approach to medicine 3
  5. Part II Modelling physiology
  6. 2 Computational modelling in liver system and liver disease 21
  7. 3 Inhaled aerosols as carriers of pulmonary medicines and the limitations of in vitro–in vivo correlation (IVIVC) methods 49
  8. 4 Modelling drug permeation across the skin: a chemical engineering perspective 73
  9. 5 Chemical engineering contribution to hemodialysis innovation: achieving the wearable artificial kidneys with nanomaterial-based dialysate regeneration 103
  10. Part III Disease and treatment
  11. 6 Precision medicine in hypothyroidism: an engineering approach to individualized levothyroxine dosing 127
  12. 7 Glucose sensors in medicine: overview 167
  13. 8 Macroscopic transport models for drugs and vehicles in cancer tissues 185
  14. 9 Mathematical modelling of hollow-fiber haemodialysis modules 203
  15. 10 Chemical engineering methods in better understanding of blood hydrodynamics in atherosclerosis disease 243
  16. 11 On the development of pharmacokinetic models for the characterisation and diagnosis of von Willebrand disease 263
  17. Part IV Pharmacokinetics and drug delivery
  18. 12 An introduction to quantitative systems pharmacology for chemical engineers 293
  19. 13 A novel strategy for brain cancer treatment through a multiple emulsion system for simultaneous therapeutics delivery 315
  20. 14 Model-based dose selection for gene therapy for haemophilia B 333
  21. 15 Lipid-based nanoparticles for nucleic acids delivery 359
  22. Index
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111394558-004

Chapters in this book

  1. Preface V
  2. List of contributing authors
  3. Part I Chemical engineering and medicine
  4. 1 A systems engineering approach to medicine 3
  5. Part II Modelling physiology
  6. 2 Computational modelling in liver system and liver disease 21
  7. 3 Inhaled aerosols as carriers of pulmonary medicines and the limitations of in vitro–in vivo correlation (IVIVC) methods 49
  8. 4 Modelling drug permeation across the skin: a chemical engineering perspective 73
  9. 5 Chemical engineering contribution to hemodialysis innovation: achieving the wearable artificial kidneys with nanomaterial-based dialysate regeneration 103
  10. Part III Disease and treatment
  11. 6 Precision medicine in hypothyroidism: an engineering approach to individualized levothyroxine dosing 127
  12. 7 Glucose sensors in medicine: overview 167
  13. 8 Macroscopic transport models for drugs and vehicles in cancer tissues 185
  14. 9 Mathematical modelling of hollow-fiber haemodialysis modules 203
  15. 10 Chemical engineering methods in better understanding of blood hydrodynamics in atherosclerosis disease 243
  16. 11 On the development of pharmacokinetic models for the characterisation and diagnosis of von Willebrand disease 263
  17. Part IV Pharmacokinetics and drug delivery
  18. 12 An introduction to quantitative systems pharmacology for chemical engineers 293
  19. 13 A novel strategy for brain cancer treatment through a multiple emulsion system for simultaneous therapeutics delivery 315
  20. 14 Model-based dose selection for gene therapy for haemophilia B 333
  21. 15 Lipid-based nanoparticles for nucleic acids delivery 359
  22. Index
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