Abstract
It was recently shown that the stratum corneum fat layer, i.e. the skin permeability barrier, has a unique molecular arrangement - stacked bilayers of fully extended ceramides with cholesterol molecules associated with the ceramide sphingoid moiety. We here give a brief historical perspective to the field of skin permeability barrier research and specifically address some selected contributions to the current understanding of skin barrier morphology.
References
1.
Homolle A: Expériences physiologiques sur l'absorption par le tégument externe chez l'homme dans le bain. Union Med 1853;7:462.
2.
Duriau F: Recherches expérimentales sur l'absorption et l'exhalation par le tégument externe. Arch Gen Med T 1856;7:161-173.
3.
Winsor T, Burch GE: Differential roles of layers of human epigastric skin on diffusion of water. Arch Intern Med 1944;74:428-444.
4.
Berenson GS, Burch GE: Studies of diffusion of water through dead human skin: the effect of different environmental states and of chemical alterations of the epidermis. Am J Trop Med 1951;31:842-853.
5.
Onken HD, Moyer CA: The water barrier in human epidermis. Arch Dermatol 1963;87:584-590.
6.
Brody I: Intercellular space in normal human stratum corneum. Nature 1966;209:472-476.
7.
Breathnach AS, Goodman T, Stolinski C, Gross M: Freeze fracture replication of cells of stratum corneum of human epidermis. J Anat 1973;114:65-81.
8.
Elias PM, Friend DS: The permeability barrier in mammalian epidermis. J Cell Biol 1975;65:180-191.
9.
Wertz PW, Downing DT: Ceramides of pig epidermis: structure determination. J Lipid Res 1983;24:759-765.
10.
Wertz PW, Swartzendruber DC, Madison KC, Downing DT: Composition and morphology of epidermal cyst lipids. J Invest Dermatol 1987;89:419-424
11.
Madison KC, Swartzendruber DC, Wertz PW, Downing DT: Presence of intact intercellular lamellae in the upper layers of the stratum corneum. J Invest Dermatol 1987;88:714-718.
12.
White SH, Mirejovsky D, King GI: Structure of lamellar lipid domains and corneocyte envelopes of murine stratum corneum. An X-ray diffraction study. Biochemsitry 1988;27:3725-3732.
13.
Garson JC, Doucet J, Leveque J-L, Tsoucaris G: Oriented structure in human stratum corneum revealed by X-ray diffraction. J Invest Dermatol 1991;96:43-49.
14.
Bouwstra JA, Gooris GS, Van der Spek JA, Bras W: Structural investigations of human stratum corneum by small-angle X-ray scattering. J Invest Dermatol 1991;97:1005-1012.
15.
McIntosh TJ: Organization of skin stratum corneum extracellular lamellae: diffraction evidence for asymmetric distribution of cholesterol. Biophys J 2003;85:1675-1681.
16.
Forslind B: A domain mosaic model of the skin barrier. Acta Derm Venereol (Stockh) 1994;74:1-6.
17.
Norlén L: Skin barrier structure and function: the single gel-phase model. J Invest Dermatol 2001;117:830-836.
18.
Iwai I, Han H, den Hollander L, Svensson S, Öfverstedt L-G, Anwar J, Brewer J, Bloksgaard Mølgaard M, Laloeuf A, Nosek D, Masich S, Bagatolli L, Skoglund U, Norlén L: The human skin barrier is organized as stacked bilayers of fully extended ceramides with cholesterol molecules associated with the ceramide sphingoid moiety. J Invest Dermatol 2012;132:2215-2225.
19.
Scheuplein RJ, Blank IH: Permeability of skin. Physiol Rev 1971;51:702-747.
20.
Michaels AS, Chandrasekaran SK, Shaw JE: Drug permeation through human skin: theory and in vitro experimental measurements. AIChE J 1975;21:985-996.
21.
Potts RO, Guy RH: Predicting skin permeability. Pharm Res 1992;9:663-669.
22.
Edwards DA, Langer R: A linear theory of transdermal transport phenomena. J Pharm Sci 1994;83:1315-1334.
23.
Johnson ME, Blankschtein D, Langer R: Evaluation of solute permeation through the stratum corneum: lateral bilayer diffusion as the primary transport mechanism. J Pharm Sci 1997;86:1162-1172.
24.
Kasting GB, Barai ND, Wang T-F, Nitsche JM: Mobility of water in human stratum corneum. J Pharm Sci 2003;92:2326-2340.
25.
Barbero AM, Frasch HF: Transcellular route of diffusion through stratum corneum: results from finite element models. J Pharm Sci 2006;95:2186-2194.
26.
Hansen S, Selzer D, Schaeffer UF, Kasting G: An extended database of keratin binding. J Pharm Sci 2011;100:1712-1726.
27.
Mitragotri S, Anissimov YG, Bunge AL, Frasch HF, Guy RH, Hadgraft J, Kasting GB, Lane ME, Roberts MS: Mathematical models of skin permeability: an overview. Int J Pharm 2011;418:115-129.
28.
Naegel A, Heisig M, Wittum G: Detailed modeling of skin penetration - an overview. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 2013;65:191-207.
29.
Norlén L, Al-Amoudi A: Stratum corneum keratin structure, function, and formation: the cubic rod-packing and membrane templating model. J Invest Dermatol 2004;123:715-732.
30.
Norlén L, Öktem O, Skoglund U: Molecular cryo-electron tomography of vitreous tissue sections: current challenges. J Microsc 2009;235:293-307.
31.
Norlén L: Skin lipids. In Gordon C. K. Roberts (ed): Encyclopedia of Biophysics, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 2012; Volume 5, pp 2368-2373.
32.
Norlén L, Anwar J, Öktem O: Accessing the molecular organization of the stratum corneum using high-resolution electron microscopy and computer simulation. In Querleux, B (ed): Computational Biophysics of the Skin. Singapore, Pan Stanford Publishing, 2013.
© 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel
2013
Copyright / Drug Dosage / Disclaimer
Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, microcopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Drug Dosage: The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any changes in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug.
Disclaimer: The statements, opinions and data contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publishers and the editor(s). The appearance of advertisements or/and product references in the publication is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality or safety. The publisher and the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements.
You do not currently have access to this content.
