Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Visualizing and Quantifying Pharmaceutical Compounds within Skin using Coherent Raman Scattering Imaging
Published on: November 24, 2021
Relative absorption and dermal loading of chemical substances: Consequences for risk assessment
Harrie E Buist1, Gerwin Schaafsma, Johannes J M van de Sandt
1Department of Food & Chemical Risk Analysis, TNO Quality of Life, P.O. Box 360, Utrechtseweg 48, 3700 AJ Zeist, The Netherlands. harrie.buist@tno.nl
Abstract:
Quantification of skin absorption is an essential step in reducing the uncertainty of dermal risk assessment. Data from literature indicate that the relative dermal absorption of substances is dependent on dermal loading. Therefore, an internal exposure calculated with absorption data determined at a dermal loading not comparable to the actual loading may lead to a wrong assessment of the actual health risk. To investigate the relationship between dermal loading and relative absorption in a quantitative manner, 138 dermal publicly available absorption experiments with 98 substances were evaluated (87 in vitro, 51 in vivo; molecular weight between 40 and 950, logP between -5 and 13), with dermal loading ranging mostly between 0.001 and 10mg/cm(2). In 87 experiments (63%) an inverse relationship was observed between relative dermal absorption and dermal loading, with an average decrease of factor 33+/-69. Known skin irritating and volatile substances less frequently showed an inverse relationship between dermal loading and relative absorption.
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