Chemical imaging for skin permeation studies – an analytical approach to replace animal experiments

Research Project, 2020

In this project we want to develop an animal-free skin permeation analysis approach suitable for testing chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and skin allergens. The method uses multi-modal chemical imaging (MMCI) to trace, quantify and image molecules and elements in donated human skin after a diffusion cell exposure. The method aims to replace or significantly reduce existing in-vivo models and improve on already established in-vitro models. This by offering a more sensitive and flexible analytical approach that can replace and/or complement existing methods in the OECD guidelines for skin adsorption (no 427 and no 428). Although the use of in-vivo testing of cosmetic ingredients with regard to skin sensitizing potency is prohibited since many years, the replacement methods validated by ECVAM does not take skin permeation into account.