Measurement of trihydroxy-linoleic acids in stratum corneum by tape-stripping: Possible biomarker of barrier function in atopic dermatitis.

Takahito Chiba,Motomu Manabe,Toshio Ichiki,Futoshi Kohda,Takeshi Nakahara,Masutaka Furue,Michel Simon

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0210013

Takahito Chiba, Motomu Manabe + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0210013

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Jan 4, 2019
Citations: 19	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Akita University, Aso Iizuka Hospital, Kyushu University

Abstract

Epidermal ceramides are indispensable lipids that maintain the functions of the stratum corneum. Esterified omega-hydroxyacyl-sphingosine (EOS) ceramide with a linoleate moiety is one of the most important ceramide species for forming cornified lipid envelopes. This linoleate moiety is eventually metabolized to trihydroxy-linoleic acid (triol, 9,10,13-trihydroxy-11E-octadecenoic acid). Thus, we assumed that a decrease of triols might reflect skin barrier dysfunction. Against this background, the purposes of this study were to measure the triols by a simple tape-stripping method and to determine the correlation between the amount of triols and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) as an indicator of barrier dysfunction in atopic dermatitis patients. Twenty Japanese subjects with normal skin and 20 atopic dermatitis patients were enrolled in this study. TEWL was measured and triols of the stratum corneum were analyzed by tape-stripping. The results showed for the first time that triols in the stratum corneum could be simply measured using the tape-stripping method. The triol levels in atopic dermatitis patients were much higher than those in healthy subjects. Moreover, the triol levels correlated with TEWL of non-lesional forearm skin in patients with atopic dermatitis. The results suggest that the assaying of triol levels via non-invasive tape-stripping could be beneficial for monitoring barrier function in atopic dermatitis.

Highlights

The barrier function of the skin is mainly provided by the stratum corneum
It was reported that ceramide OS decreases in the cornified layer [19], and the resulting paucity of corneum envelope (CLE) components exacerbates skin dryness or other symptoms [19,20,21]. These findings indicate that the amount of ceramide OS as a final product of ceramide Esterified omega-hydroxyacyl-sphingosine (EOS) in stratum corneum influences skin barrier function
Considering a series of ceramide EOS metabolic processes, we focused on the final metabolite, trihydroxy-linoleic acid (9,10,13-trihydroxy-11E-octadecenoic acid), which is cleaved from ceramide EOS

Summary

Introduction

Individual corneocytes in the stratum corneum act as a major structure forming a physical barrier, extracellular lamellar lipids (ECLLs) containing abundant ceramides play an important role in the barrier structure [1]. These are often described as brick (corneocytes) and mortar (ECLLs) structures. Trihydroxy-linoleic acids in stratum corneum envelope (CLE); this is considered to be an integral component for combining the corneocyte envelope with ECLLs [1, 2] (Fig 1a). Insufficiency of CLE formation induces skin symptoms and increased transepidermal water loss (TEWL) since an appropriate stratum corneum cannot be constructed [3, 4]

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