System coefficient approach, dermal absorption

A Novel System Coefficient Approach for Systematic Assessment of Dermal Absorption from Chemical Mixtures... 

PDMS membranes have been widely used as a skin imitation membrane for dermal absorption studies (Moss et al., 2002). A membrane-coated fiber technique has bear developed in our center for quantitative analysis of the absorption kinetics and rapid determination of the partition coefficients of chemicals between the PDMS membrane and chemical mixtures (Xia et al., 2003). In the following sections, the system coefficient approach is demonstrated by measuring the partition coefficients of chemicals in the P/W systems. 

The system coefficient approach seamlessly integrates the experimental techniques and theoretical model to systematically provide a means for quantitative assessment of dermal absorption from chemical mixtures. The required data can be determined using high-throughput, automatic instrumentation, not depending on compiled literature data. This not only overcomes the shortage of experimental data for chemical mixtures, but also significantly increases the prediction precision and accuracy. 

The system coefficient approach is a thermodynamic principle-based experimental approach. It overcomes the trial-and-error weakness in the traditional empirical fitting approach. This significantly advances the fundamental methodology for risk assessment of dermal absorption from chemical mixtures. 

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