Physical signatures of drug transport through an artificial skin barrier--a proposed model and its validation.

The objective of the present study is to better characterize the system acting as a model for the penetration of a pharmaceutical drug into the skin. With a new mathematical formalism, the transport of the drug (dithranol) from a semisolid vaseline suspension into an artificial membrane was described. In our novel approach, we have taken into account not only diffusion but also other effects dependent on chemical reactivity of drug, medium structure, and drug-matrix interactions.

Investigation of the molecular mechanism of the blue-light-specific excitation energy quenching in the plant antenna complex LHCII.

Excitation of the major photosynthetic antenna complex of plants, LHCII, with blue light (470nm) provides an advantage to plants, as it gives rise to chlorophyll a fluorescence lifetimes shorter than with excitation with red light (635nm). This difference is particularly pronounced in fluorescence emission wavelengths longer than 715nm. Illumination of LHCII preparation with blue light additionally induces fluorescence quenching, which develops on a minute timescale.