Release studies through dermatomed skin showed that the hollow MN device had the ability to fully penetrate the dermatomed skin (as was observed) and deliver bacteriophage transdermally. There was a small amount of liquid remaining on the surface of the skin following application. Accordingly, 100% delivery was not expected. A 1 ml volume of a 5 × 108 PFU/ml stock was delivered into 11 ml PBS in the Franz cell donor compartment. selleck products Therefore, 4.5 × 107 PFU/ml would be the maximum phage amount to be detected if 100% delivery occurred. Thirty minutes following delivery, 1 × 106 PFU/ml was detected within the receptor compartment, as determined by plaque assay ( Fig. 6a). Amounts of phage detected

stayed within 1 × 106 ± 1 log up to the 24 h time point. This is regarded as a constant level, as variability of this kind is common with plaque assay results ( Darling et al., 1998). Delivery of stock solution through full thickness skin proved difficult. MNs did not penetrate all layers of the skin and the resistance provided by the dermal layer meant that solution flow was reduced, yielding a pool of liquid the skin surface (Fig. 6b). The calibration curve (R2 = 0.992) constructed showed that phages were detectable in rat blood to a concentration

of 30 PFU/ml ( Fig. 7a). Phage concentrations detected at each selleck inhibitor timepoint are presented in Fig. 7b. Phage was detected at a concentration of approximately 4 × 103 PFU/ml 30 min after phage administration. This phage concentration reduced rapidly at the next time point with an average 50 PFU/ml at 1.5 h and 125 PFU/ml at 2 h. Hypothetically, Bumetanide 1 ml of a 4 × 109 PFU/ml stock was administered to each rat (although it is known that 100% delivery did not occur due to backflow of phage stock – Fig. 8). These results suggest that phages were successfully

delivered into the systemic circulation. However, phages were also cleared quickly from the system, with an over 2 log reduction in phage concentration from 30 min to the 1 h time point. No phage was detected at the 24 h time point ( Fig. 7b). The variation in plaque assay results from the 1 h to the 6 h time points can be explained by the known inherent variation of the microbiological plaque assay itself, as outlined above. A recent review by our Group illustrated the need for more diverse delivery systems to improve the breath of phage therapy applications (Ryan et al., 2011).The present study successfully delivered viable T4 bacteriophage transdermally both in vitro and in vivo using a novel hollow MN system. MN–mediated transdermal delivery punctures the skin and by-passes the SC to create transient aqueous transport pathways of micron dimensions. This, in turn, enhances transdermal permeability ( Tanner and Marks, 2008). MNs possess many advantageous attributes including painless delivery, simple and affordable fabrication and the elimination of the threat of cross-contamination that parenteral delivery poses ( Donnelly et al.