ESTIMATION OF THE PORE-SIZE AND CHARGE-DENSITY IN HUMAN CADAVER SKIN

Streaming potential and the cation transport number were measured in human cadaver skin. The transport number was used to estimate the charge density in aqueous pores of skin using both Donnan equilibrium and Langmuir adsorption isotherm. A microscopic model was employed to evaluate the pore radius from the streaming potential and charge density data. The capillary pore model was extended to account for any distribution of pore size, and applied particularly to the gaussian distribution. The mean radius of the distribution appeared to be slightly less than that of the single pore model. In both cases the radii were ca. 20 nm.