Mobility of Water Molecules in the Stratum Corneum: Effects of Age and Chronic Exposure to the Environment

Composition and structure analysis of different depths in the stratum corneum using confocal Raman microscopy combined with two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy

The chemical composition and structure of the stratum corneum (SC) play a crucial role in the skin barrier function. Therefore, accurately determining the SC thickness and studying the changes in lipid and keratin structure and distribution within it are key aspects of skin barrier research. Currently, there are limited analytical tools and data analysis methods available for real-time and online studies of SC composition and structural changes. In this study, we focus on depth as a perturbation and employ confocal Raman microscopy combined with moving-window two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (MW2D) technique to investigate the SC thickness. Additionally, we employ confocal Raman microscopy combined with perturbation-correlation moving-window two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (PCMW2D) to precisely characterize the stratification of the SC. Furthermore, the two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2DCOS) method is utilized to examine the content of various conformations in the keratin secondary structure within the SC, as well as the subtle interrelationships between lipid and keratin structures.

Edible oil based optical clearing for optical coherence tomography angiography imaging

In optical imaging, optical clearing agents are commonly used to enhance the structural details of a sample. The current study investigates how to use it to improve the data obtained by an optical coherence tomography angiography system. A natural edible oil with no chemical base has been used for optical clearing. In-vivo testing on mice and humans yielded excellent optical clearing. Using computational techniques, the improvement in angiography signal caused by the optical clearing agent is investigated qualitatively and quantitatively. Compared to the control group, applying the edible oil-based optical clearing agent demonstrated improved vessel percentage and refined vascular signal intensity along depth.

Atopic Dermatitis and Water: Is There an Optimum Water Intake Level for Improving Atopic Skin?

Water is a vital nutrient with innumerable functions for every living cell. The functions of human skin include protection against dehydration of the body. Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic pruritic inflammatory skin disease that presents with dry skin, erythematous and eczematous lesions, and lichenification. This paper discusses the question of whether extra water intake in children with AD affects skin hydration and the skin barrier function. Among the methods used to treat dry skin, topical leave-on products are the first-line treatment, intended to improve hydration and the skin barrier function. The effectiveness of adequate water intake as a measure to treat dry skin is still under debate. Normal skin hydration increases with dietary water intake, particularly in those with prior lower water consumption. Skin dryness in AD is instrumental to the itch and inflammation cycle, contributing to barrier impairment and aggravating disease severity and flares. Certain emollients provide significant hydration to AD skin, with relief of dryness and reduction in barrier impairment, disease severity, and flares. Further investigations are needed to evaluate the optimum water intake levels in children with AD, as important questions remain unanswered, namely, does oral hydration provide relief of skin dryness and reduce barrier impairment, disease severity, and flares; is there any additional benefit from using mineral or thermal spring water; or is there a need to specifically study the fluid/water intake in children with AD and food allergy (FA) restrictions?

Confocal Raman Micro-Spectroscopy for Discrimination of Glycerol Diffusivity in Ex Vivo Porcine Dura Mater

Dura mater (DM) is a connective tissue with dense collagen, which is a protective membrane surrounding the human brain. The optical clearing (OC) method was used to make DM more transparent, thereby allowing to increase in-depth investigation by confocal Raman micro-spectroscopy and estimate the diffusivity of 50% glycerol and water migration. Glycerol concentration was obtained, and the diffusion coefficient was calculated, which ranged from 9.6 × 10^-6 to 3.0 × 10^-5 cm²/s. Collagen-related Raman band intensities were significantly increased for all depths from 50 to 200 µm after treatment. In addition, the changes in water content during OC showed that 50% glycerol induces tissue dehydration. Weakly and strongly bound water types were found to be most concentrated, playing a major role in the glycerol-induced water flux and OC. Results show that OC is an efficient method for controlling the DM optical properties, thereby enhancing the in-depth probing for laser therapy and diagnostics of the brain. DM is a comparable to various collagen-containing tissues and organs, such as sclera of eyes and skin dermis.

Raman confocal microscopy and biophysics multiparametric characterization of the skin barrier evolution with age

Skin aging is a multifactorial phenomenon that involves alterations at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels. Our aim was to carry out a multiparametric biophysical and Raman characterization of skin barrier between individuals of different age groups (<24 and >70 years old). Our results showed a significant decrease of lipids to proteins ratio overall the thickness of the stratum corneum and higher lateral packing in the outer part of the SC for elderly. This can explain the decrease in trans epidermal water loss measured values rather than only SC thickening. Both age groups showed similar water content at SC surface while elderly presented higher water content in deep SC and viable epidermis. Mechanical measurements showed a decrease in the elasticity and an increase in the fatigability with age and were correlated with partially bound water. Highest correlation and anti-correlation values were observed for the deepest part of the SC and the viable epidermis.

Visualization of the in situ distribution of contents and hydrogen bonding states of cellular level water in apple tissues by confocal Raman microscopy

Raman spectroscopy has been employed for studying the hydrogen bonding states of water molecules for decades, however, Raman imaging data contain thousands of spectra, making it challenging to obtain information on water with different hydrogen bonds. In the current study, a novel method combining confocal Raman microscopy (CRM) imaging with the iterative curve fitting algorithms was developed to determine the distribution of water contents at the cellular level and water states with different hydrogen bonds in apple tissues. Raman imaging data ranging from 2700 to 3800 cm-1 were acquired from whole cells in the apple tissue, which were then decomposed into seven sub-peaks using the fixed-position Gaussian iterative curve fitting (FPGICF) algorithm. The content and hydrogen bonding states of cellular water were calculated as the area sum of the OH stretching vibration and the area ratio of DA-OH over DDAA-OH stretching vibration or the number of hydrogen bonds of each water molecule, respectively. Finally, the area of each sub-peak, the area sum of the OH stretching vibration, and the area ratio of DA-OH over DDAA-OH stretching vibration were used to visualize the distribution of each sub-peak, water contents and water states with different hydrogen bonds, respectively. In addition, it was found that the number of hydrogen bonds of each water molecule could also be considered as a criterion to describe the hydrogen bond states of water in apple tissues. The availability of such information should provide new insights for future study of cellular water in other food materials.

Stratum corneum occlusion induces water transformation towards lower bonding state: a molecular level in vivo study by confocal Raman microspectroscopy

OBJECTIVE

It is conventionally understood that occlusive effects are the retention of excessive water in the stratum corneum (SC), the increase of SC thickness (swelling) and a decrease of the transepidermal water loss. However, the influence of occlusion on water binding properties in the SC is unknown.

METHODS

The action of plant-derived jojoba and almond oils, as well as mineral-derived paraffin oil and petrolatum topically applied on human skin, is investigated in vivo using confocal Raman microspectroscopy. To understand the oils' influence on the SC on the molecular level, the depth-dependent hydrogen bonding states of water in the SC and their relationship to the conformation of keratin, concentration of natural moisturizing factor (NMF) molecules and lipid organization were investigated.

RESULTS

A significant SC swelling was observed only in petrolatum-treated skin. The water concentration was increased in oil-treated skin in the intermediate SC region (40-70% SC depth). Meanwhile, the amount of free, weakly and tightly bound water increased, and strongly bound water decreased in the uppermost SC region (0-30% SC depth). The NMF concentration of oil-treated skin was significantly lower at 50-70% SC depth. The lateral organization of lipids in oil-treated skin was lower at 0-30% SC depth. The secondary structure of keratin was changed towards an increase of β-sheet content in mineral-derived oil-treated skin and changed towards an increase of α-helix content in plant-derived oil-treated skin.

CONCLUSION

The occlusive properties can be summarized as the increase of free water and the transformation of water from a more strongly to a more weakly hydrogen bonding state in the uppermost SC, although some oils cause insignificant changes of the SC thickness. The accompanied changes in the keratin conformation at the intermediate swelling region of the SC also emphasize the role of keratin in the SC's water-transporting system, that is the water in the SC transports intercellularly and intracellularly in the intermediate swelling region and only intercellularly in the uppermost non-swelling region. Bearing this in mind, almond, jojoba and paraffin oils, which are not occlusive from the conventional viewpoint, have an occlusion effect similar to petrolatum on the SC.

Electric-field penetration depth and dielectric spectroscopy observations of human skin

Background

The dynamic behavior of water molecules remains an important subject for understanding human skin. The change in the dynamics of water molecules from those in bulk water can be effectively observed by dielectric spectroscopy. To study water in the human skin in vivo, non‐invasive and non‐destructive measurements are essential. Since many unknowns remain from previous research, in this report we employ a two‐layer dielectric model to evaluate the penetration depth of the electric field and use the results in measurements on human skin.

Materials and Methods

We used open‐ended coaxial probes with different diameters to perform time‐domain reflectometry (TDR) measurements for an acetone‐Teflon double‐layer model and for human skin from various parts of the body.

Results

The electric‐field penetration depth obtained from model measurements increases with the increasing outer diameter of open‐ended coaxial electrodes. For skin measurements, the relaxation strength corresponding to the water content shows a clear dependence on the epidermal thickness of the measured body parts.

Conclusion

We determined the depth distribution of the water content of skin from results of dielectric measurements obtained using electrodes with various electric‐field penetration depths. We found exponential decays with the thickness of the epidermis of each body part for several examinees. This study suggests an effective method for detailed evaluations of human skin.

Hydrogen bound water profiles in the skin influenced by optical clearing molecular agents-Quantitative analysis using confocal Raman microscopy

Confocal Raman microscopy has been used to measure depth-dependent profiles of porcine skin ex vivo in the high wavenumber region after application of molecular optical clearing agents (OCAs). Glycerol (70%) and iohexol (100% Omnipaque [300]) water solutions were used as OCAs and topically applied to porcine ear skin for 30 and 60 minutes. Using Gaussian function-based deconvolution, the changes of hydrogen bound water molecule types have been microscopically analyzed down to the depth of 200 μm. Results show that both OCAs induced skin dehydration (reduction of total water), which is 51.3% for glycerol (60 minutes), 33.1% for glycerol (30 minutes), 8.3% for Omnipaque (60 minutes) and 4.4% for Omnipaque (30 minutes), on average for the 40 to 200 μm depths. Among the water types in the skin, the following reduction was observed in concentration of weakly bound (51.1%, 33.2%, 7.5% and 4.6%), strongly bound (50.4%, 33.0%, 7.9% and 3.4%), tightly bound (63.6%, 42.3%, 26.1% and 12.9%) and unbound (55.4%, 28.7%, 10.1% and 5.9%) water types on average for the 40 to 200 μm depths, post application of glycerol (60 minutes), glycerol (30 minutes), Omnipaque (60 minutes) and Omnipaque (30 minutes), respectively. As most concentrated in the skin, weakly and strongly bound water types are preferentially involved in the OCA-induced water flux in the skin, and thus, are responsible for optical clearing efficiency.

An updated review of clinical methods in the assessment of ageing skin - New perspectives and evaluation for claims support

With the advancement of skin research, today's consumer has increased access to an informed understanding of ageing skin and its appendages, together with a plethora of targeted products to meet such needs. In recent years, increased legislative demands for quality evidential claims support have led not only to the development and validation of clinical methods to measure and quantify ageing skin, but also a clearer understanding of the skin ageing process-especially the impact of both its internal and external environments-as well as a tougher stance on clearly unjustifiable claims. Traditional testing methods used to research and evaluate anti-ageing products claim to employ sophisticated instruments. Today, however, since the term anti-ageing can be considered a misnomer, intelligent use of combined more advanced clinical methods has enabled the development of technologically improved consumer products providing enhanced efficacy and targeted performance. Non-invasive methods for the assessment and quantification of the causes of ageing skin provide tools to the clinical researcher as defined by key clinically observed ageing parameters. Where evidence requires additional support, a number of clinical procedures evaluating ageing skin and hair products are combined with invasive procedures, thus enabling an added value to product claims. As discussed herein, given the enhanced understanding of ageing, we provide an update to our previous reviews of clinical methods used in the assessment of skin ageing, to include the wider aspects of environmental exposure; skin pigmentation; microbiome disturbance; surface topography; colour, radiance, and pH; and structural integrity-all requiring a disciplined approach to their use in dermatological investigations and product claims evidence.

Distribution of tightly and loosely bound water in biological macromolecules and age-related diseases

This mini-review article is focused on publications devoted to the changes in water binding energy and content of bound water in biological tissues during aging processes, when bound water lost from the hydration layer becomes free water. Bound water is released during cataractogenesis. In skin, water bound to proteins and other biomacromolecules becomes more mobile with increasing skin age. Extracellular to intracellular water ratio increases with age and was associated with muscle cell atrophy. Bound water concentration decreases with age in hydrated human bone and can be correlated with the strength and toughness of the bone. Higher fraction of free water in malignant tissues compared to normal tissues was observed. Hydration water mobility is enhanced around tau amyloid fibers. Water plays a decisive role in amyloid formation as entropic driving force. In the natural aging processes dehydration and glycation may be considered as subsequent steps.

Human skin in vivo has a higher skin barrier function than porcine skin ex vivo-comprehensive Raman microscopic study of the stratum corneum

Porcine skin is widely used as a human skin model in dermatology. For both, porcine stratum corneum (SC) ex vivo and human SC in vivo, the hydrogen bonding states of water, the secondary and tertiary structures of keratin, the natural moisturizing factor (NMF) concentrations and the intercellular lipids' (ICL) lateral organization are investigated depth-dependently using confocal Raman microscopy. The SC depth profiles show that porcine SC ex vivo is characterized by lower hydrogen bonding states of water (10%-30% SC depth), lower NMF concentration in the whole SC, more β-sheet form of keratin (10%-90% SC depth), more folded tertiary keratin structures (30%-70% SC depth) and higher hexagonal lateral packing order of ICL (10%-50% SC depth) compared to human SC in vivo. The results clearly show a higher value of skin barrier function of human SC in vivo than of porcine SC ex vivo. Thus, the human SC in vivo is less permeable for lipophilic and hydrophilic substances than porcine SC ex vivo. Considering the porcine SC as an ex vivo model of human SC in vivo, these findings should be taken into consideration.

Keratin-water-NMF interaction as a three layer model in the human stratum corneum using in vivo confocal Raman microscopy

The secondary and tertiary structure of keratin and natural moisturizing factor (NMF) are of great importance regarding the water regulating functions in the stratum corneum (SC). In this in vivo study, the depth-dependent keratin conformation and its relationship to the hydrogen bonding states of water and its content in the SC, are investigated using confocal Raman microscopy. Based on the obtained depth-profiles for the β-sheet/α-helix ratio, the stability of disulphide bonds, the amount of cysteine forming disulphide bonds, the buried/exposed tyrosine and the folding/unfolding states of keratin, a "three layer model" of the SC, regarding the keratin-water-NMF interaction is proposed. At the uppermost layers (30-0% SC depth), the keratin filaments are highly folded, entailing limited water binding sites, and NMF is mostly responsible for binding water. At the intermediate layers (70-30% SC depth), the keratin filaments are unfolded, have the most water binding sites and are prone to swelling. At the bottom layers (100-80% SC depth), the water binding sites are already occupied with water and cannot swell substantially. The hydrogen bonding states of water molecules can only be explained by considering both, the molecular structure of keratin and the contribution of NMF as a holistic system.

A depth-dependent profile of the lipid conformation and lateral packing order of the stratum corneum in vivo measured using Raman microscopy

The intercellular lipid structure of the stratum corneum (SC) plays a key role in skin barrier function. A depth profile of the intercellular lipid conformation and the lipid lateral packing order were measured in vivo in the human SC using confocal Raman microscopy. The depth profiles of the 2880 cm(-1)/2850 cm(-1) peak ratio intensity, which represent the C-H stretching and lateral packing order of lipids, and the 1080 cm(-1)/(1130 cm(-1) + 1060 cm(-1)) peak ratio, which represents the C-C skeleton vibration and trans-gauche conformation order of lipids, were investigated. The influence of keratin on the lipid peaks at 2850 cm(-1) and 2880 cm(-1) was excluded by the developed mathematical algorithm. The results show that the trans-conformation and lateral packing order of the intercellular lipids reach their maximum value in the SC at 20-40% of its depth and then decrease towards the stratum granulosum. These results show that at a depth of 20-40% (normally corresponding to a depth of 4-8 μm) the SC exhibits the most ordered lipids and therefore the highest skin barrier function. The lateral packing of lipids is more disordered on the surface and in the deeper parts of the SC, which may be associated with a reduced skin barrier function.

Depth profiles of hydrogen bound water molecule types and their relation to lipid and protein interaction in the human stratum corneum in vivo

Confocal Raman microscopy has been used to measure depth-dependent profiles of human SC in vivo in the high wavenumber (HWN) region. In order to keep the linearity of HWN region boundaries and to not remove an informative signal from Raman spectra, a new baseline subtraction procedure has been introduced. After baseline subtraction, the HWN spectrum was deconvoluted using 10 Gaussian functions with individual chemical meanings. The results show that the hydrogen bound water molecule types contributed differently to the water diffusion process in the SC. The most concentrated double donor-double acceptor (DDAA) and single donor-single acceptor (DA) water molecule types in the SC represent more than 90% of the SC's water and mostly contribute to the water flux in the skin. Single donor-double acceptor (DAA) and weakly-bound water molecule types represent less than 10% of the SC's water content. The most tightly hydrogen bound water molecule type, DAA, reaches its maximum concentration near the skin surface and does not take part in the water diffusion process via the SC. The results show that the hydrogen bonding state of water (DA/DDAA water molecule type ratio) reaches its maximum at the depth of approx. 30% of the SC thickness, which correlates well with the maximum lateral packing order of intercellular lipids (ICL) and the natural moisturizing factor (NMF), and does not coincide with the folding/unfolding state of keratin. The NMF's contribution to the bonding of water in the SC is supposed to dominate over that of ICL.

Preclinical and clinical characterization of the cutaneous bioavailability of the hydrophilic phase of a water-in-oil emulsion

BACKGROUND

Interactions between the stratum corneum and individual phases of an emulsion system depend on various factors, but primarily on the outer continuous phase of the system. While there is plenty of data on the lipophilic phase, only very little data exists on the actual penetration of the hydrophilic phase of water-in-oil emulsions into the stratum corneum.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Against this background, two comparable water-in-oil emulsions were preclinically and clinically investigated on healthy as well as on artificially damaged skin with regard to interactions of the hydrophilic phase. In preclinical studies, following epicutaneous application on ex vivo skin, the distribution of the hydrophilic phase was quantified using fluorescence tests and analyzed according to anatomic layers. Additionally, a randomized, controlled, investigator-blinded study investigated the effects of the preparations on the barrier function of healthy and artificially damaged skin over time.

RESULTS

The results clearly show that water substitution using a water-in-oil emulsion can only partially be attained by the addition of hygroscopic substances (e. g. urea). These effects may primarily be explained by the occlusive properties of the lipophilic phase.

CONCLUSIONS

This, the use of water-in-oil emulsions may in particular be recommended for chronic barrier impairment, as long-lasting effects are not to be expected in acutely damaged skin.

Age-related changes in male forearm skin-to-fat tissue dielectric constant at 300 MHz

Prior research suggests that tissue dielectric constant (TDC) values are useful to assess localized skin water in females for early diagnosing breast cancer treatment-related lymphoedema and TDC values in young adults have shown gender differences. However, no TDC data are available for older males nor have ageing effects been studied despite known shifts in water state and other skin age-related changes. Thus our goals were to (i) characterize TDC values at various skin depths in young and older males, (ii) determine the dependence of these values on body composition parameters and (iii) establish inter-arm TDC ratios for use as normal male reference values. TDC measurements were made to depths of 0·5, 1·5, 2·5 and 5·0 mm bilaterally on volar forearm skin in 60 males in three groups of 20 that had mean ages ± SD of 24·0 ± 0·9, 40·0 ± 12·9 and 71·0 ± 8·0 years. Total body fat and water percentages were determined via bioimpedance at 50 KHz. Results showed that (i) for all age groups TDC values decreased with increasing depth, (ii) TDC values were not statistically different among age groups except at a depth of 0·5 mm, (iii) TDC values were highly negatively correlated with total body fat and (iv) inter-arm ratios varied little among age groups and depths. It is concluded that (i) age-related larger TDC values at only the shallowest depth is consistent with skin water shifting state from bound to more mobile in the oldest group and (ii) inter-arm ratios at any depth provide a basis to test for unilateral oedema.