The purpose of the present study was to investigate the topical bioavailability of retinol (vitamin A) after its transdermal administration. For this purpose, we developed the convenient HPLC method to measure the retinol concentration in the biological fluids such as plasma and skin tissues. The low detection limit was $0.1;{mu}g/ml$ using a gradient HPLC system of UV detection. The initial plasma concentration of retinol was about $20;{mu}g/ml$ after its i.v. bolus administration (4.32 mg/kg). The half life $(t_{1/2{alpha}})$ in the distributive phase was 1.3 min, while retinol was slowly disappeared in the post-distributive phase. On the other hand, the maximum plasma concentration $(C_{max})$ was about 776 ng/ml after appling to rat skin at a dose of 43.2 mg/kg. Furthermore, the concentration of retinol in the skin tissues was about 600 ng/g tissue at 12 hr after its transdermal administration. In conclusion, the initial plasma concentration of retinol was comparable with the skin concentration after its cutaneous absorption, followed by being decreased with the passage of the time.