Study of interactions between Gallic Acid and Skin Surface using Infrared Spectroscopy

The transdermal transmission of model substance on the pigskin samples was investigated using the attenuated total reflection (ATR) technique of infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The collected vibrational spectroscopic data were evaluated by multidimensional statistical methods as principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and partial least squares (PLS) regression which enable detection of individual substances in the skin, their identification and mutual differentiation. Gallic acid (GA), a natural phenolic anti-oxidant with many potential healing properties suitable e.g. for atopic dermatitis treatment, was used as an analyte. Effect of GA on the skin surface was examined for four different solvents namely ethanol (EtOH), methanol (MeOH), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and ultrahigh purity water (H2O). Moreover, the effects of temperature related to GA solubility in H2O were investigated. During the series of experiments, nonsystematic changes of untreated skin samples were observed; while systematic changes are evident after the skin treatment. The systematic effects correspond to structural changes of the skin constituents during substance penetration.