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Lipid Matrix Diffusion

Meaning

The primary physiological process by which lipophilic therapeutic compounds, including most steroid hormones, passively traverse the skin’s outermost layer, the stratum corneum. This diffusion involves the drug partitioning into and migrating through the continuous, highly organized intercellular lipid matrix, which is composed of ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids. It represents the rate-limiting step for the transdermal absorption of the majority of systemically acting agents.