Hybrid in vitro diffusion cell for simultaneous evaluation of hair and skin decontamination: temporal distribution of chemical contaminants
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Hazem Matar; Joanne Larner; Scott Townend; Nevine Amer; Elliot Thomas; Robert P. Chilcott; Andreia Tavares Pinhal; Sneha Kansagra
- Source
- Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2018)
- Subject
- 0301 basic medicine
Time Factors
lcsh:Medicine
010501 environmental sciences
01 natural sciences
Article
Diffusion
03 medical and health sciences
Skin surface
medicine
Chemical contaminants
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Porcine skin
Carbon Radioisotopes
lcsh:Science
Diffusion cell
Decontamination
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Skin
Multidisciplinary
integumentary system
Chemistry
lcsh:R
Human decontamination
Contamination
In vitro
030104 developmental biology
medicine.anatomical_structure
Scalp
lcsh:Q
Biomedical engineering
Hair
- Language
- ISSN
- 2045-2322
Most casualty or personnel decontamination studies have focused on removing contaminants from the skin. However, scalp hair and underlying skin are the most likely areas of contamination following airborne exposure to chemicals. The aim of this study was to investigate the interactions of contaminants with scalp hair and underlying skin using a hybrid in vitro diffusion cell model. The in vitro hybrid test system comprised “curtains” of human hair mounted onto sections of excised porcine skin within a modified diffusion cell. The results demonstrated that hair substantially reduced underlying scalp skin contamination and that hair may provide a limited decontamination effect by removing contaminants from the skin surface. This hybrid test system may have application in the development of improved chemical incident response processes through the evaluation of various hair and skin decontamination strategies.