ABSTRACT
Objective: Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (MPA) using a transdermal drug delivery system for contraception by passive diffusion is limited by the skin barrier properties. Penetration enhancers such as olive oil (fatty acid permeation enhancer) and DMSO (chemical enhancer) can be used. The objective of this study was to overcome MPA penetration problem by using olive oil and DMSO. Methods: An in vitro penetration study using the Franz diffusion cells was performed. The first penetration study used MPA in olive oil (O) and MPA in coconut oil (C) with the concentration 100 μg/ml to each sample and MPA suspension as a control with the same concentration. The second study used MPA in olive oil with the concentration 200.0 μg/ml (A), MPA in olive oil with 0.5% DMSO with the concentration 200.0 μg/ml (B), and MPA in olive oil with 1% DMSO with the concentration 200 μg/ml (C). Results: MPA penetration test for olive oil+0.5% DMSO had flux value 4.24±0.074 μg/cm2. hr and it was not significantly different (t-test, P>0.05) with olive oil+1% DMSO. While the MPA penetration test in only Olive oil had flux value 0.90±0.0087 μg/cm2. hr. Conclusion: This research concluded that olive oil and 0.5% DMSO could improve the penetration of MPA into skin membrane by 4.5 times more than olive oil alone.