Label-free analysis of tenofovir delivery to vaginal tissue using co-registered confocal Raman spectroscopy and optical coherence tomography.

ABSTRACT: Vaginally applied microbicide products offer a female-controlled strategy for preventing sexual transmission of HIV. Microbicide transport processes are central to their functioning, and there is a clear need for a better understanding of them. To contribute to that end, we developed an assay to analyze mass transport rates of microbicide molecules within the epithelial and stromal layers of polarized vaginal mucosal tissue during contact with a gel vehicle. The assay utilizes a new diffusion chamber mounted in a custom instrument that combines confocal Raman spectroscopy and optical coherence tomography. This measures depth-resolved microbicide concentration distributions within epithelium and stroma. Data for a tenofovir gel were fitted with a compartmental diffusion model to obtain fund

SUBMITTER: Chuchuen O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5621692 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature