In Vitro Models for Nail (Ungual) Absorption Offered by Charles River
January 19, 2011 - As part of our commitment to reduce, refine and replace the use of animals in research, an in vitro model for assessing transungual drug delivery has been added to our portfolio of tests to help accelerate the development of compounds.
Onchomycosis (fungal nail infection) affects about 6-8% of the adult population. Historically, many topically applied onycomychotic drug formulations have had limited success due to poor transungual drug delivery. As a result, we offer this new in vitro model to provide key information regarding formulation selection and optimization to improve the effectiveness of drug delivery.
Our in vitro model utilizes human cadaver nails mounted in flow-through diffusion cells. Following topical application of the onycomychotic drug formulation at a clinically relevant exposure level, the receptor medium is collected to gain an absorption profile for any drug that passes through the nail and reached the nail bed. After absorption monitoring, the nail is sectioned longitudinally to provide distribution and kinetic information of the drug within the nail plate.
For more information about these assays, see our technical sheet or contact us at askcharlesriver@crl.com.