Electrical impedance spectroscopy for rapid and noninvasive analysis of skin electroporation

Transient disruption of skin's barrier properties using high-voltage pulses involves complex changes in skin microstructure believed to be due to electroporation. Electroporation of cell membranes is a well known phenomenon which has found extensive use as a method of DNA transfection in biological laboratories (1-3). More recently, it has been shown that the multilamellar lipid bilayer membranes found in skin can also be electroporated (4-17). The dramatic and reversible increases in skin permeability caused by electroporation indicate that drugs might be delivered transdermally at significantly enhanced rates. Especially for macromolecules, such as protein- and gene-based drugs, electroporation-mediated transdermal drug delivery could be an important pharmaceutical approach.