Enhanced Skin Permeation of Glimepiride by β-Cyclodextrin and Iontophoresis

Enhanced skin permeation of glimepiride by iontophoresis across the pigskin was investigated. The experiment was carried out using cathodal iontophoresis (current density 0.5 mA cm⁻²) along with the passive controls. At all time points iontophoresis considerably increased the permeation rate compared to passive controls. Glimepiride is one of the third generation sulfonylureas used for treatment of type 2 diabetes. Poor aqueous solubility of the drug leads to irreproducible clinical response or therapeutic failure in some cases due to subtherapeutic plasma drug levels. Consequently, the rationale of this study was to improve the biological performance of this drug through enhancing its solubility and permeation rate by help of β-cyclodextrin (β-CyD) and iontophoresis.