EXPRESSION OF STRATUM CORNEUM LIPID PATHWAYS IN HUMAN SKIN EQUIVALENT CULTURES.

• TR Number: 538
• Authors: Jarrold, B., Mullins, L., Reichling, T., Tiesman, J., Robinson, M., Binder, B., Osborne, R. P&G Beauty, Cincinnati, Ohio USA.

This study by scientists at Procter & Gamble Beauty demonstrated that gene pathways involved in stratum corneum lipid formation are expressed in Mattek’s EpiDermFT full-thickness in vitro 3-D human skin tissue equivalent, suggesting that ths culture system is an appropriate in vitro approach for studying stratum corneum biology. Human skin equivalent cultures contain living human skin cells that form a cornified stratified squamous epithelium in vitro, as determined by histological examination. It is not known the extent to which these in vitro models reproduce the lipid synthesis pathways critical to stratum corneum (SC) formation in vivo. To examine this question, genechip analysis of two commercially available human skin equivalent cultures systems was used to determine expression of stratum corneum lipid metabolism pathways. The goal of this work was to evaluate whether stratum corneum lipid metabolism pathways are expressed in human skin equivalent cultures, using a gene profiling approach. The results indicate that gene pathways involved in stratum corneum lipid formation are expressed in human skin equivalent cultures, suggesting that culture systems derived from either young or older skin cells are appropriate in vitro approaches to study stratum corneum biology.