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USE OF HUMAN SKIN EQUIVALENT CULTURES FOR COSMETIC BENEFIT SCREENING.

McPhail1, S., Messersmith1, E., Thomas1, R., Mullins1, L., Osborne1, R., Grove2, G. 1Procter and Gamble, Miami Valley Innovation Center, Beauty Technology Division, 11810 East Miami River Road Cincinnati, OH 45252. 2CyberDERM, 700 Parkway, Broomall, PA 19008.
Abstract

This study by scientists at Procter and Gamble and CyberDERM demonstrated that MatTek’s EpiDerm fully developed and EpiDerm-201 underdeveloped in vitro human skin tissue equivalents, and EpiOcular in vitro human corneal tissue equivalent could be used to develop methodologies for measurement of transepidermal water loss (TEWL) from human epithelial tissue equivalent cultures, and that TEWL measurements of MatTek in vitro tissues correlated with epithelial tissue barrier function in vivo. Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) is a clinical measure of skin barrier health widely used in the cosmetics industry, both for assessments of irritation and for improvements in skin barrier health. The availability of multi-layered, differentiated epithelial equivalents presents an opportunity to directly correlate in vitro barrier effects to clinical results. Objective: The objective of this work performed by scientists at Procter and Gamble’s Miami Valley Innovation Center, and CyberDERM was to develop methodologies appropriate for measurement of transepidermal water loss (TEWL) from human skin equivalent cultures. Methods: Tissues – All tissues and media were supplied by MatTek Corp. Three types of tissues with distinct barrier properties were used for the experiments. These were: EpiOcular, EpiDerm and EpiDerm-201. Conclusions: • TEWL can successfully be measured from human epithelial equivalents using existing clinical instrumentation, with modification to the instrument probe. • TEWL measurements parallel development of the stratum corneum in skin equivalent cultures, as observed histologically. • Skin barrier benefits may be measured using TEWL, although a large sample size may be required. • Measurement of skin injury or barrier disruption was not addressed in this study, but is a potential reapplication of this method.

Keywords

EpiDerm 200, EpiDerm 201, EpiOcular, Irritation, Niacinamide, Occulsion, Petrolatum, Skin barrier health, Transepidermal water loss (TEWL)

Materials Tested

Niacinamide, Petrolatum

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