Ex Vivo Evaluation of Intravaginal Progesterone and Testosterone to Treat the Luteal-phase Deficiency and Vaginal Atrophy.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the transmucosal permeation of progesterone and testosterone using Pentravan as its vehicle for vaginal delivery. Progesterone deficiency is a hormone imbalance that could lead to luteal-phase deficiency, which is a common problem in assisted reproductive technologies. Testosterone has been explored for treating postmenopausal symptoms, such as vaginal atrophy. The ex vivo experiments were performed using porcine vaginal mucosa and phosphate buffered saline + 0.5% 2-hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin as the receptor media, which was later quantified through high-performance liquid chromatography. The percentage of the permeated drug was 0.4% and 20.3% for progesterone and testosterone, respectively. The permeation studies revealed that testosterone formulated with Pentravan is potentially effective in reaching the bloodstream and acts locally, whereas progesterone was mostly retained in the mucosa.