Compared in vivo efficiency of nanoemulsions unloaded and loaded with calixarene and soapy water in the treatment of superficial wounds contaminated by uranium.

No emergency decontamination treatment is currently available in the case of radiological skin contamination by uranium compounds. First responders in the workplace or during an industrial nuclear accident must be able to treat internal contamination through skin. For this purpose, a calixarene nanoemulsion was developed for the treatment of intact skin or superficial wounds contaminated by uranium, and the decontamination efficiency of this nanoemulsion was investigated in vitro and ex vivo.

Ex vivo uranium decontamination efficiency on wounded skin and in vitro skin toxicity of a calixarene-loaded nanoemulsion.

The present work aims at studying the decontamination efficacy of a calixarene-loaded nanoemulsion on two ex vivo wounded skin models mimicking superficial stings or cuts contaminated with uranium, and on a third model using excoriation. The decontaminating formulation was compared with the currently used radio-decontaminating soapy water (Trait rouge®) treatment. Moreover, to assess skin damage potentially induced by the undiluted nanoemulsion, in vitro toxicity studies were conducted on an in vitro reconstructed human epidermis, coupled with three different toxicity tests [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide, lactate dehydrogenase, and interleukin-1-α].