Characterization of porcine skin as a model for human skin studies using infrared spectroscopic imaging

Porcine skin is often considered a substitute for human skin based on morphological and functional data, for example, for transdermal drug diffusion studies. A chemical, structural and temporal characterization of porcine skin in comparison to human skin is not available but will likely improve our understanding of this porcine skin model. Here, we employ Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic imaging to holistically measure chemical species as well as spatial structure as a function of time to characterize porcine skin as a model for human skin. Porcine skin was found to resemble human skin spectroscopically and differences are elucidated. Cryo-prepared fresh porcine skin samples for spectroscopic imaging were found to be stable over time and small variations are observed. Hence, we extended characterization to the use of this model for dynamic processes. In particular, the capacity and stability of this model in transdermal diffusion is examined. The results indicate that porcine skin is likely to be an attractive tool for studying diffusion dynamics of materials in human skin.