Distribution in Skin of Ceramide after Oral Administration to Rats

Abstract

In this study, the absorption, distribution and excretion of ceramide were examined in rats. After a single oral administration of (3)H-ceramide, mean plasma concentration of radioactivity reached maximum at approximately 10.67 hr and decreased with a T(1/2) of 67.12 hr. The mean cumulative excretion of radioactivity in urine and feces accounted for approximately 4.79% and 87.44%, respectively, of the dose. At 96 hr after dosing, 1.67% and 3.67%, respectively, of the dose were still present in the skin and carcass. The radioactivity in the skin at 12 hr was lower than that in plasma and the ratio of skin to plasma concentration was 0.7. However, at 120 hr after dosing, the ratio of skin to plasma concentration increased to 4. A detailed analysis of the distribution of radioactivity in a section of skin showed that radioactivity was located in the dermis and epidermis. At 168 hr, the radioactivity in the epidermis was 8.0% of the radioactivity in skin. The results of the present study clearly demonstrate that some ceramide orally administered is distributed gradually in the dermis after gastrointestinal absorption, followed by transfer from the dermis to the epidermis.

Intestinal absorption of dietary maize glucosylceramide in lymphatic duct cannulated rats

“…In this study, the total recovery of sphingosine in an intact form after administration of glucosyl-N-palmitoylsphingosine was lower than reported in other studies, which used labeled sphingolipids ( 42 ), because most of the dietary sphingosine is converted to palmitic acid in the intestinal mucosa and is incorporated into chylomicron the predominant structure of sphingoid bases in higher plants, can be absorbed into the lymph by intestinal cells after administration of maize glucosylceramide, but the recovery is extremely low. A large portion of the 4,8-sphingadienine absorbed by intestinal cells is a constituent of complex sphingolipids, including at least ceramide, while the smaller portion is in the free form in the lymph.…”

Improving Skin Hydration and Age-related Symptoms by Oral Administration of Wheat Glucosylceramides and Digalactosyl Diglycerides: A Human Clinical Study

“…The purpose of this double-blind randomized controlled human clinical trial was to test, in a rigorous way, the hypothesis that even small amounts of sphingoid base derivatives, administered orally to humans, can afford measurable and significant and perceivable benefits to the skin, as suggested by the various animal studies and a few smaller-scale human trials [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] and our own preliminary study.…”

“…Even though a large proportion of ingested sphingolipids are excreted in the feces, animal studies reported that after oral intake radiolabeled ceramides are metabolized, absorbed and distributed to many tissues, including the skin. In rats, orally administered radiolabeled ceramides were shown to be delivered to the epidermis [10]. In another study on mice, after administration of 13 C-labeled dihydroceramides, their metabolite 13 C-labeled sphinganine was clearly detected in the skin, liver, skeletal muscle and synapse membrane in the brain [11].…”

Potential Applications of Phyto-Derived Ceramides in Improving Epidermal Barrier Function

“…As plant-derived CERs are chemically similar to epidermal CERs, phytoCER-based skincare products can aid in skin moisturization and protective barrier reinforcement. Oral as well as topical delivery of phytoCERs can either enhance the endogenous epidermal lipid-synthetic capability [16,98] or replace depleted skin CERs in some skin conditions and ageing [99]. These CERs are naturally found in many cereal, tuber, and legume dietary sources such as wheat [74,77,84], rice [73,80,100], corn [80,101], potato and sweet potato [96], soybean [77,102], and konjac [103,104].…”