Our analysis of epidermal lipids revealed that (glucosyl)ceramide profiles in various human skin equivalents are different from those of native tissue. The main difference is the reduced content in skin equivalents of ceramides 4-7 and especially the very low content of the most polar ceramides 6 and 7, which contain hydroxylated sphingoid base and/or fatty acid. To facilitate hydroxylation, the culture medium was supplemented with vitamins C and E. Although in vitamin E-supplemented medium lipogenesis was not affected, in vitamin C-supplemented medium the content of glucosylceramides and of ceramides 6 and 7 was markedly increased, both in the presence and absence of serum and irrespective the substrate used (inert or natural, populated or not with fibroblasts). The improvement of the lipid profile was accompanied by a marked improvement of the barrier formation as judged from extensive production of lamellar bodies, their complete extrusion at the stratum granulosum/stratum corneum interface, and the formation of multiple broad lipid lamellar structures in the intercorneocyte space. The presence of well-ordered lipid lamellar phases was confirmed by small-angle x-ray diffraction. Some differences between native and reconstructed epidermis, however, were noticed. Although the long-range lipid lamellar phase was present in both the native and the reconstructed epidermis, the short lamellar phase was present only in native tissue. It remains to be established whether these differences can be ascribed to small differences in relative amounts of individual ceramides, to differences in fatty acid profiles, or to differences in cholesterol sulfate, pH, or calcium gradients. The results indicate the key role vitamin C plays in the formation of stratum corneum barrier lipids.

Intercellular lipids in the stratum corneum (SC) are responsible for the barrier function of mammalian skin. The main components of the SC lipids are ceramides, cholesterol, and free fatty acids, as established by thin-layer chromatographic analysis of lipids extracted from the human and mammalian SC. Up to now, for lipid analysis the extracts of the entire SC has been used and information on whether the lipid composition changes with the depth in the SC is scarce. Tape stripping is a technique which removes corneocyte layers step by step with an adhesive film. The use of this technique for lipid analysis was hampered by the contamination of lipid extracts with compounds co-extracted from the tape with organic solvents used for the extraction of SC lipids. The aim of the present study was to establish a suitable analytical method for the determination of the local SC lipid composition. For this purpose, the SC samples were collected by sequential stripping with Leukoplex tape in five healthy volunteers. The lipids were extracted with ethyl acetate:methanol mixture (20:80) and separated by means of HPTLC. The results of this study revealed that the free fatty acid level is highest and the cholesterol and ceramide levels lowest in the uppermost SC layers (about 4 strippings). The levels remained unchanged in the underlying SC layers. In these layers, the ceramide level was about 60 wt% and the free fatty acid and cholesterol levels were about 20 wt% each. Ceramides could be separated into seven different fractions and the relative amounts of individual ceramide fractions did not significantly change with the SC depth. Cholesterol sulfate levels were about 5% of total cholesterol and did not change with the SC depth, except for the for the first strip where the level was about 1%. The method developed makes it possible to study the differences in the SC lipid profile in healthy and diseased human skin with relation to the SC lipid organization and to the skin barrier function in vivo.

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The main barrier of the skin is formed by the lipids in the apical skin layer, the stratum corneum (SC). In SC mainly ceramides (CER), free fatty acids (FFA) and cholesterol (CHOL) are present. The CER are composed of at least six different fractions. CER 1 has an exceptional molecular structure as it contains a linoleic acid linked to a long-chain -hydroxy acid (C Ͼ 30). The SC lipids are organized in two lamellar phases with periodicities of approximately 6 and 13 nm, respectively. Recent studies revealed that ceramides isolated from pig SC mixed with cholesterol in confined ratios mimic stratum corneum lipid phase behavior closely (Bouwstra, J. . J. Lipid Res. 37: 999-1011. In this paper the role of CER 1 for the SC lipid lamellar organization was studied. For this purpose lipid phase behavior of mixtures of CHOL and total ceramide fraction was compared with that of mixtures of CHOL and a ceramide mixture lacking CER 1. These studies showed that in the absence of CER 1 almost no long periodicity phase was formed over a wide CHOL/CER molar ratio. A model is proposed for the molecular arrangement of the two lamellar phases. This model is based on the dominant role CER 1 plays in the formation of the long periodicity phase, electron density distribution calculations, and observations, such as i ) the bimodal distribution of the fatty acid chain lengths of the ceramides, ii ) the phase separation between long-chain ceramides and short-chain ceramides in a monolayer approach, and iii ) the absence of swelling of the lamellae upon increasing the water content organization in SC. In this molecular model the short periodicity phase is composed of only two high electron density regions indicating the presence of only one bilayer, similar to that often found in phospholipid membranes. The molecular arrangement in the long periodicity phase is very exceptional. This phase most probably consists of two broad and one narrow low electron density regions. The two broad regions are formed by partly interdigitating ceramides with long-chain fatty acids of approximately 24-26 C atoms, while the narrow lowelectron density region is formed by fully interdigitating ceramides with a short free fatty acid chain of approximately 16 to 18 C atoms.-

Culturing of normal human keratinocytes at the air-liquid interface results in the formation of fully differentiated epidermis under in vitro conditions. Although the reconstructed epidermis shows a close resemblance to native tissue, there are still some differences in the stratum corneum lipid profile and intercellular lipid organization. As ceramides belong to one of the major stratum corneum lipid classes, the aim of this study was to characterize this fraction in more detail. For this purpose, individual ceramide fractions were isolated by column chromatography and characterized by a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, high-performance thin-layer chromatography, and gas chromatography. The results of this study show that in both the native and reconstructed human epidermis the extractable ceramide fraction contains, in addition to the well known acylceramides (EOS, EOH), a new acylceramide in which the omega-O-acylhydroxyacid is amide-linked to phytosphingosine (EOP). The same three sphingoid base moieties (S, P, H) are also found in ceramides with amide-linked nonhydroxy and alpha-hydroxyacids. Whereas the same types of ceramides were present in both tissues, some differences in their fatty acid profiles have been found. In reconstructed epidermis the content of linoleic acid in all three acylceramides fraction was significantly lower; the ceramide(NS) fraction was enriched in short fatty acids and the ceramide(AS) fraction was enriched in long chain alpha-hydroxyacids. These differences together with a lower content of free fatty acids may explain the differences between native and reconstructed tissue in stratum corneum lipid organization observed earlier by X-ray diffraction.

Lipid mixtures prepared from cholesterol (CHOL), isolated ceramides (CER), and free fatty acids can serve as attractive tools to study the role various stratum corneum (SC) lipids or microenvironmental conditions play in the SC lipid organization, as the phase behavior in these mixtures and in SC are similar: two lamellar phases with periodicities of approximately 6 and 13 nm are present. Because pH and cholesterol sulfate (CSO4) gradients exist in SC and may affect the local SC lipid organization, the effects of pH and CSO4 on lipid phase behavior was examined. X-ray diffraction studies with CHOL:CER mixtures revealed that the lamellar ordering at pH 5 and 7.4 were similar: both the short and the long periodicity phases were present. Upon addition of free fatty acids the phase behavior became pH dependent; the long periodicity phase being more dominant at pH 7.4 than at pH 5. Similar observations have been made upon addition of CSO4. Furthermore, only in the presence of CSO4 did phase-separated CHOL disappear, indicating that CHOL completely dissolves in the lamellar phases. A major phase change from an hexagonal to an orthorhombic lateral packing has been observed in the presence of free fatty acids. Furthermore, in the presence of CSO4 next to orthorhombic also liquid lateral packing could be detected. In contrast to lamellar ordering, changes in pH did not affect the lateral packing in any of the lipid mixtures studied.

The upper layer of the epidermis, the stratum corneum (SC), is very important for skin barrier function. During the last trimester of gestation, the SC of the fetus is protected by a cheesy, white biofilm called vernix caseosa (VC). VC consists of water-containing corneocytes embedded in a lipid matrix and the basic structure shows certain similarities with the SC. This study aimed to characterize VC, with the main focus on an integral analysis of free and (to the corneocytes) bound lipids, on the lipid organization, and on ultrastructure. Free lipids of VC show a wide distribution in polarity; nonpolar lipids such as sterol esters and triglycerides predominate, having a chain length of up to 32 carbon atoms. The profile of fatty acids, omega-hydroxyacids and omega-hydroxyceramides - representing the bound lipids of VC - shows high similarity to that of SC. Morphological studies revealed the presence of highly hydrated corneocytes embedded in lipids, the latter being occasionally accumulated as lipid pools. Freeze fracture electron microscopy showed smooth surfaces of corneocytes and a heterogeneous appearance of intercellular lipids. The results suggest a lower degree of ordering of VC lipids as compared to the SC. A small-angle X-ray diffraction study showed similar results.

Most patients with autosomal recessive lamellar ichthyosis are known to have markedly impaired skin barrier function. We hypothesize that this may be due to imperfections in the composition and fine structure of the intercellular stratum corneum lipids. The aim of the present study was to test this hypothesis. To characterize the barrier properties in three female patients with lamellar ichthyosis, the following parameters were used and compared with those of healthy volunteers: transepidermal water loss, stratum corneum lipid profiles after topical acetone/ether extraction on the flexure side of the forearm, and small-angle x-ray diffraction. The extracted lipids were separated using high performance thin-layer chromatography and quantified, and the ceramide profile was determined. Small-angle x-ray diffraction was used to obtain information on the molecular structure and organization of the intercellular lipid domains of stratum corneum using stratum corneum scales collected by scraping. Transepidermal water loss was significantly increased in all three patients. Lipid analysis showed significant differences in the relative amounts of ceramide fractions 2-3a-3b-4-5, free fatty acid-ceramide ratio, and free fatty acid-cholesterol ratio. Small-angle x-ray diffraction showed smaller repeated distances of lipid bilayers in stratum corneum samples of the patients compared with the healthy volunteers. An additional diffraction peak was found in the patients compared with the healthy volunteers, which can be ascribed to crystalline cholesterol. These data suggest that there might be a relation between the impaired barrier function and stratum corneum lipid structural and composition changes.