Abstract
The dynamic phenomena of skin diffusion/bioconversion of a provitamin have been described by assuming a bilayer skin consisting of the stratum corneum as a main diffusion barrier and the viable skin as a major site of bioconversion. The mathematical model adequately describes the time courses of the in vitro appearance profiles of the provitamin and its metabolites, vitamins C and E, in the hairless mouse skin. The present model can be used not only to investigate transdermal delivery of prodrugs but also to elucidate mechanisms of skin detoxification of xenobiotics entering the skin.
