Phase behavior of artificial stratum corneum lipids containing a synthetic pseudo-ceramide: a study of the function of cholesterol

The phase properties and structural characteristics of stratum corneum (SC) lipid lamellae have been a subject of considerable interest. To clarify the individual role of the stratum corneum constituent lipids, such as ceramides, free fatty acids, and cholesterol, we investigated the thermotropic pr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of lipid research 1996-02, Vol.37 (2), p.361-367
Main Authors: Mizushima, H, Fukasawa, J, Suzuki, T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Calorimetry, Differential Scanning
Ceramides - chemistry
Chemical Phenomena
Chemistry, Physical
Cholesterol - analysis
Cholesterol - chemistry
Cholesterol - physiology
Lipids - chemistry
Skin - chemistry
Stearic Acids - chemistry
Thermodynamics
X-Ray Diffraction
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The phase properties and structural characteristics of stratum corneum (SC) lipid lamellae have been a subject of considerable interest. To clarify the individual role of the stratum corneum constituent lipids, such as ceramides, free fatty acids, and cholesterol, we investigated the thermotropic properties and aggregation structures of a pseudo-ceramide/stearic acid (1/1 mole ratio)-cholesterol system, which is a simplified model for the natural lipids. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) detected decreases of melting entropies (delta Sm) by the incorporation of cholesterol into both anhydrous and hydrated equimolar mixture of pseudo-ceramide (SLE) and stearic acid. Moreover, there was a linear relationship between the cholesterol content and the melting entropies in the region of 0-33 mol% cholesterol for both the anhydrous and hydrate lipids. In addition, as the concentration of cholesterol increased, a liquid lateral packing (4.5 A) appeared in the wide-angle X-ray diffraction and the intensity of a hexagonal packing (4.15 A) decreased. The results from the present study strongly follow the idea that cholesterol can regulate the mobility of hydrocarbon chains of the natural stratum corneum lipid bilayer, which is primarily responsible for the barrier properties.
ISSN:0022-2275
DOI:10.1016/s0022-2275(20)37622-7