The role of the corneocyte lipid envelopes in cohesion of the stratum corneum

PW Wertz, DC Swartzendruber, DJ Kitko… - Journal of investigative …, 1989 - Elsevier
PW Wertz, DC Swartzendruber, DJ Kitko, KC Madison, DT Downing
Journal of investigative dermatology, 1989Elsevier
Treatment of isolated stratum corneum with certain detergents results in complete
disaggregation of the corneocytes within hours at 45° C without agitation. This is prevented
by prior heating of the tissue to 80° C or by solvent extraction of the intercellular lipids. In the
present study, electron micros-copy revealed that the heated or solvent-extracted tissue was
characterized by cell-to-cell contacts that appeared to involve the chemically bound
hydroxyceramides which constitute the corneocyte lipid envelope. It is proposed that the …
Treatment of isolated stratum corneum with certain detergents results in complete disaggregation of the corneocytes within hours at 45°C without agitation. This is prevented by prior heating of the tissue to 80° C or by solvent extraction of the intercellular lipids. In the present study, electron micros- copy revealed that the heated or solvent-extracted tissue was characterized by cell-to-cell contacts that appeared to involve the chemically bound hydroxyceramides which constitute the corneocyte lipid envelope. It is proposed that the irreversible bonding between corneocytes that results from heating or lipid extraction results from interdigitation of the sphingosine chains belonging to those hydroxyceramides that are bound to the corneocyte protein envelope by the ω-hydroxyl function of the 30- and 32-carbon hydroxyacid moieties. Similar interdigitaion of adjacent envelopes might be involved in natural stratum corneum cohesion, limited mostly to the periphery of corneocytes where the absence of inter-cellular lamellae allows the appropriate cell-to-cell contact.
Elsevier