Dissertation

A novel formulation for skin barrier repair : from ex vivo assessment towards clinical studies

The stratum corneum is the outermost skin layer and consists of dead cells embedded in a lipid matrix.

Author: Berkers, T.
Date: 24 October 2018
Links: Thesis in Leiden Repository

The stratum corneum is the outermost skin layer and consists of dead cells embedded in a lipid matrix. The lipid matrix, consisting of ceramides, fatty acids, and cholesterol, is crucial for a proper skin barrier function. In inflammatory skin diseases the lipid composition and ordering is altered contributing to the impaired skin barrier. Vernix caseosa (VC) is the cheesy, white cream that covers the skin of the human fetus. Application of an in house developed synthetic VC enhanced skin barrier repair in mice. Currently, there are no suitable skin models available to study human skin barrier repair after application of a topical formulation. This thesis describes the development of a human skin barrier repair model and evaluates VC based formulations using this model. The results demonstrate that the barrier of this repair model mimics several aspects of inflammatory skin diseases. Additionally, it was shown that the lipid properties in this model were improved when a synthetic VC-based formulation was applied. Based on the outcome, clinical studies were performed. These studies showed that application on a disrupted human skin barrier in vivo enhanced the barrier repair. However, the effects of the formulation are limited when applied on atopic dermatitis skin