Topical application and uptake of vitamin E acetate by the skin and conversion to free vitamin E

Radioactive tocopherol acetate was diluted with either (1) unlabelled tocopherol acetate or (2) Delios S (Henkel, a medium chain triglyceride prepared from fractionated coconut oil), a cosmetic base. These preparations were applied topically to a 2 cm diameter circle of skin. After 24 hours the percent of label which was still removable by swabbing the skin surface was 1.7% for (1) and 11.5% for (2). The central circles contained 2.86% of the label applied in 259 mg skin for (1) and 24.2% of the label applied in 226 mg skin for Delios S for (2). Surprisingly, combined samples of approximately one third of the side skin contained 0.7% of the label applied in 460 mg for (1) and 13.2% of the applied label in one third of the side skin in 523 mg for (2). The percent conversion to tocopherol in the skin central areas was 4.52% by HPLC and 4.13% by TLC for (1) and 5.97% for (2). In the side skin the percent conversion to tocopherol was 5.0% for (1) and 6.01% for (2).