[The electric pulse caused pore in the skin observed by fluorescence microscopy]

The objective of this study was to enunciate the difference in skin morphological changes between iontophroresis and electroporation for transdermal drug delivery (TDD). Fluorescence microscope was employed to observe the skin structure of human and snake in passive diffusion (control); iontophoresis was performed using direct current(0.5 mA/cm2) and electroporation was performed using intensive 380 V, pulse rate 4 ppm, pulse duration 5.5 ms, pulse number 100 and electric capacity 22 microF. Fluorescein was FITC. The results showed that for human skin in the passive, these were a few highlight fluorescent blots with scale of 15-30 microns and rough edge, but the edge of the blots became smooth and the scale did not change in the iontophoresis; when the scale of the blots was extended to 80-90 microns, the edge was smooth. For the snakes shin, the highlight blots were not sighted in the passive and iontophoresis, but they were found to be 25-30 microns in the electroporation. These data demonstrate that electric pulse can cause pore in the skin, thus creating a new route for drug permeation through skin.