Human skin penetration of a copper tripeptide in vitro as a function of skin layer

Hostynek JJ, Dreher F, Maibach HI · Inflammation Research

Permeability coefficient through dermatomed skin was 2.43 ± 0.51 × 10⁻⁴ cm/h; 136.2 ± 17.5 µg/cm² of copper crossed the tissue over 48 hours and 97 ± 6.6 µg/cm² was retained as a depot. The authors conclude copper was delivered in potentially therapeutic amounts.

Population

Isolated human stratum corneum, heat-separated epidermis and dermatomed skin in flow-through diffusion cells

Intervention

0.68% aqueous glycyl-L-histidyl-L-lysine cuprate diacetate under infinite-dose conditions for 48 hours

Comparator

Comparison across skin layers

Limitations

ICP-MS measures copper, not intact peptide, so it cannot show the complex crossed as a complex. Infinite-dose ex-vivo conditions overstate in-use exposure.