<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> The skin barrier, which is essential for human survival on dry land, is located in the uppermost skin layer, the stratum corneum. The stratum corneum consists of corneocytes surrounded by multilamellar lipid membranes that prevent excessive water loss from the body and entrance of undesired substances from the environment. To ensure this protective function, the composition and organization of the lipid membranes is highly specialized. The major skin barrier lipids are ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol in an approximately equimolar ratio. With hundreds of molecular species of ceramide, skin barrier lipids are a highly complex mixture that complicate the investigation of its behaviour. In this minireview, the structures of the major skin barrier lipids, formation of the stratum corneum lipid membranes and their molecular organization are described.</p></abstract>

The skin barrier, which is essential for human survival on dry land, is located in the uppermost skin layer, the stratum corneum. The stratum corneum consists of corneocytes surrounded by multilamellar lipid membranes that prevent excessive water loss from the body and entrance of undesired substances from the environment. To ensure this protective function, the composition and organization of the lipid membranes is highly specialized. The major skin barrier lipids are ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol in an approximately equimolar ratio. With hundreds of molecular species of ceramide, skin barrier lipids are a highly complex mixture that complicate the investigation of its behaviour. In this minireview, the structures of the major skin barrier lipids, formation of the stratum corneum lipid membranes and their molecular organization are described.

Ceramides in the skin barrier

European Pharmaceutical Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Ceramides in the skin barrier"}

The skin barrier, which is essential for human survival on dry land, is located in the uppermost skin layer, the stratum corneum. The stratum corneum consists...

Ceramides in the skin barrier

Published Online: Nov 30, 2017

Page range: 28 - 35

Received: Oct 31, 2016

Accepted: Dec 07, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/afpuc-2017-0004

Keywords
Skin barrier - stratum corneum - ceramide - sphingolipid

© by K. Vávrová

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Ceramides in the skin barrier

Published Online: Nov 30, 2017

Page range: 28 - 35

Received: Oct 31, 2016

Accepted: Dec 07, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/afpuc-2017-0004

KeywordsSkin barrier - stratum corneum - ceramide - sphingolipid

© by K. Vávrová

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Skin barrier - stratum corneum - ceramide - sphingolipid