Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease with unmet medical needs. To clarify potential therapeutic targets, different animal models have been developed. In the current study, imiquimod-induced psoriasiform dermatitis was used for monitoring the changes in skin thickness, transepidermal water loss, body weight, blood perfusion and drug permeability for a topical cream formulation of caffeine, both in wild type and in knock out mice. Morphological characterization of control and diseased tissues was performed by scanning electron microscopy and two-photon microscopy. The chemically induced psoriatic group showed increased skin permeability for the model drug during disease progression. In wild type and TRPA1 KO mice, however, enhanced skin thickness and hyperkeratosis blocked further increase of drug penetration at the late phase (96 h). These results indicate that topical drug therapy can be more effective in early phases of plaque development, when skin thickness is lower. Although paracellular connections (tight junctions) are looser in the advanced phase, hyperkeratosis blocks drug delivery through the transappendageal routes. Novel drug formulations may have the potency for effective drug delivery across the epidermal barrier even in the advanced phase. For development of more effective topical drugs, further research is proposed to explore drug penetration both in healthy and diseased conditions.
Keywords: TEWL; TRPA1 knock out; TRPV1 knock out; epidermal barrier; imiquimod; psoriasis; scanning electron microscopy; skin permeability; skin-on-a-chip diffusion cells.