Mechanistic Evaluation of Enhanced Curcumin Delivery through Human Skin In Vitro from Optimised Nanoemulsion Formulations Fabricated with Different Penetration Enhancers.

Curcumin is a natural product with chemopreventive and other properties that are potentially useful in treating skin diseases, including psoriasis and melanoma. However, because of the excellent barrier function of the stratum corneum and the relatively high lipophilicity of curcumin (log 3.6), skin delivery of curcumin is challenging.

Skin models for the testing of transdermal drugs.

The assessment of percutaneous permeation of molecules is a key step in the evaluation of dermal or transdermal delivery systems. If the drugs are intended for delivery to humans, the most appropriate setting in which to do the assessment is the in vivo human. However, this may not be possible for ethical, practical, or economic reasons, particularly in the early phases of development.