Electrical Determination of Water Content and Concentration Profile in a Simulation Model of In Vivo Stratum Corneum

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Because of its efficient water-holding capacity, healthy stratum corneum (SC) can stay soft and flexible under any environmental conditions. There may be, however, a great difference in water content within the SC between the lowermost layer that faces the wet underlying living tissue and the superficial portion of the SC that is exposed to the relatively dry ambient atmosphere. To better understand the water profile of the SC and also to verify the accuracy of measurements of high frequency conductance used to evaluate the hydration state of the skin surface, we devised a simple and convenient in vitro model of the SC that stimulates the in vivo setting of the SC. It consists of an isolated sheet of SC whose lower surface covers a pad of water-saturated filter paper, and its upper surface is exposed to the ambient atmosphere. By placing this model in environments with different relative humidities (RH), we confirmed that the recorded conductance values correlated well with the actual water content of the SC (r = 0.94). Using a model having five layers of SC sheets, the water content of the innermost portion of the SC was estimated to be equivalent to about 90% of its dry weight; this level of water content remaining relatively constant over a wide range of ambient RH except in extraordinarily humid environments above 90% RH when water began to accumulate excessively in the whole SC. Using this five SC-sheet model, it was clearly demonstrated that there was an almost straight water concentration gradient from the lowermost layer to the uppermost layer of the SC. We also confirmed that the skin conductance of the high frequency current correlated well with the water content of the superficial portion of the SC as well as with that of the whole SC, therefore, it is a good parameter of the hydration state of the superficial layer of the SC.