A three-dimensional, bioartificial human skin equivalent as an innovative technology for studying the decontamination...

The recent use of low volatile nerve agents for assassination attempts has shown that nerve agent poisoning is an ongoing challenge. Immediate decontamination of exposed patients is crucial to prevent systemic effects from skin exposure and to facilitate survival. Currently used skin models to study penetration rates rely on animal or human skin, that has most often been stored in a frozen state (obvious impairement of epidermal tight junction barrier in frozen thawed skin). Thus, we investigated a bioartificial three-dimensional model of human skin which allows the study of decontamination procedures on viable skin. In the Franz diffusion cell, we investigated the effectiveness of different decontamination lotions (RSDL; AHAK; sodium hypochlorite 2% and tap water) by calculating the amount of penetrated VX in the acceptor chamber over 5 h, as a surrogate parameter of decontamination efficacy. The FDA approved RSDL (Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion) and the AHAK lotion (potassium salt of the acetohydroxamic acid) showed a substantial decontamination efficacy. The penetrated amount of VX in the acceptor chamber (Franz diffusion cell) after 5 h was reduced by 99.97% for AHAK and by 96.57% for RSDL. Sodium hypochlorite (2%) and tap water showed a significantly lower efficacy compared to the lipophilic decontamination agents (RSDL and AHAK). AHAK was also tested as application prior to exposure and showed substantial results. In summary, the results demonstrate that the FT (full-thickness) skin model is a suitable model for investigating the decontamination efficacy of various decontamination solutions against the highly toxic nerve agent VX.