Ceramides and Barrier Function in Healthy Skin

Abstract

Lipids in the stratum corneum are key components in the barrier function of the skin. Changes in lipid composition related to eczematous diseases are well known, but limited data are available on variations within healthy skin. The objective of the present study was to compare ceramide subgroups and ceramide/cholesterol ratios in young, old, male and female healthy skin. A total of 55 participants with healthy skin was included in the study. Lipid profiles were correlated with transepidermal water loss and with information on dry skin from a questionnaire including 16 people. No statistically significant differences were found between young and old skin for ceramide subgroups or ceramide/cholesterol ratios, and there was no statistically significant correlation between answers about dry skin and ceramide levels. Interestingly, a statistically significant higher ceramide/cholesterol ratio was found for men than for women (p = 0.02).

Sweat lipid mediator profiling: a noninvasive approach for cutaneous research

“…Previous studies examining [NS] ceramides in AD did not consider genderspecific differences in [NS] ceramide concentrations (25,26). While gender differences in total skin ceramides, with men having increased skin ceramide concentrations, have been reported by some (37), others have found no differences in either total or individual ceramide species when comparing men and women (38,39). However, while the magnitude of change was greater in men, the vector of change was consistent between genders, with AD increasing in the short-chain ceramide and sphingosine concentration in the sweat, suggesting that these changes in [NS] and [NdS] ceramides and C18:1 sphingosine may be linked to the pathogenesis of AD.…”

Electron spectroscopic analysis of the human lipid skin barrier: cold atmospheric plasma‐induced changes in lipid composition

“…The lipids of the stratum corneum comprise the main components of the hydrophobic human skin barrier regulating water homoeostasis . The epidermal lipid barrier film is composed of a more or less equimolar mixture of ceramides, cholesterol and long‐chain free fatty acids.…”

Lipidomic platform for structural identification of skin ceramides with α-hydroxyacyl chains

“…Several analytical platforms, including high-performance thin-layer chromatography [13][14][15][16], high-performance liquid chromatography [17,18], gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (MS) [16,19], and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry [11,12,20,21], have been used to analyze skin ceramides. Recently, direct infusion-tandem mass spectrometry was used for shotgun analysis of ceramides, phospholipids, and triacylglycerols [22,23].…”