Multipulse drug permeation across a membrane driven by a chemical pH-oscillator.

Chemical pH-oscillators provide a potential means for modulating the delivery of acidic or basic drugs across lipophilic membranes. Previous attempts to exploit this notion were not completely successful due to quenching of the pH oscillator in the presence of the drug, most likely by a buffering mechanism. Here we show that multiple, periodic pulses of drug flux across a membrane can be achieved when the concentration of drug is sufficiently low. Advantage is taken of a pH oscillator system whose periodicity is slower than that of previously considered oscillators.