Horn_2026_Toxicol.Lett_421_111911

The dermal exposure to persistent nerve agents such as VX may lead to skin penetration and uptake in the circulatory system. So far, the efficacy of decontamination lotions to remove VX from the skin has been investigated in vitro using methods for transdermal drug delivery systems such as the vertical diffusion cell, which suffer from several disadvantages. We assessed a full thickness model of human skin placed in inserts of 6-well plates to investigate the efficacy of decontaminants to remove VX. Six different decontamination lotions (reactive skin decontamination lotion (RSDL), the potassium salt of the acetohydroxamic acid (AHAK), sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) 2% and 10%, soapy water 2% and tap water) were evaluated by calculating the amount of VX that penetrated over 300 min. In addition, the impact of the initiation of decontamination (5 min versus 30 min) was investigated. Early decontamination of VX with AHAK was very effective resulting in a complete decontamination. RSDL and NaOCl 2% showed a substantial decontamination efficacy and the penetrated amount of VX was reduced by 88% (RSDL) and 84% (NaOCl 2%). In contrast, the decontamination efficacy of soapy water and tap water was significantly lower. The delayed decontamination was less effective but still the amount of penetrated VX was significantly reduced. In conclusion, the results underline that the full thickness model of human skin is a suitable tool for investigating the decontamination efficacy of various decontaminants. In addition, the model benefits from low technical requirements.