PAMAM dendrimers as mediators of dermal and transdermal drug delivery: a review.

Dendrimers offer substantial potential for enhancing drug delivery into and across the skin, putatively by mechanisms that include occlusion and changes to surface tension. However, most of these studies are conducted in vitro and limited progress has been made beyond such laboratory studies, some of which are conducted using membranes of limited relevance to humans, such as rodent skin. Thus, the outcomes and claims of such studies should be treated with caution.