Abstract
SynopsisAbout sixty years ago Frank and Evans showed, by entropy measurements, that when a “non‐polar molecule dissolves in water it modifies the water structure in the direction of greater ‘cristallinity’, the water builds a microscopic iceberg around it” Now, we propose the “concept of ice‐like‐water capture”: a lowering of organized ice‐like water promotes aggregation (loss of solubility) of the filaggrin/keratin1/keratin10 associations through their hydrophobic patches. The capture of ice‐like water may be performed by the glucoceramides‐rich bilayers in stratum granulosum. Probably, the same process aggregates the proteins of corneocytes envelope as well as corneodesmosomes proteins. According to the “concept of ice‐like‐water capture”, to regulate the keratinization, it is not total water that must be added to the stratum corneum, but ice‐like water that must be removed from stratum granulosum. Both petrolatum (lipophilic ingredient) and glycerol (hydrophilic ingredient) would capture the ice‐like water, most probably after combination with the lipid bilayers of stratum corneum. Moisturizing cream, when organized in secondary droplets is likely to perform the same action. Measurements by near‐infrared reflectance spectroscopy of the skin show that petrolatum; glycerol and/or moisturizing cream enhance the quantity of bulk water (1890–1897 nm band). As the ice‐like water is the complement of bulk water, the enhanced bulk water let presume an ice‐like water lessening. Some desynchronization (late or forward) of the keratinization/differentiation which confer the somatosensory problems associated with “dry and flaky skin” may be linked to an excess or lack of ice‐like. For instance, the winter xerosis, very common by chilling weather, could be explained by an increase of ice‐like water driven by the fall of the temperature.
Published Version
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