Molecular characterization of reconstructed skin model by Raman microspectroscopy: Comparison with excised human skin

Abstract

Human skin is directly exposed to different exogenous agents. Many research works have studied the diffusion, interactions, absorption mechanisms, and/or toxicity of these agents toward different cutaneous structures. With the use of living animals for such tests being more and more rejected; and the number of human volunteers being limited; different types of skin models are used. In the last few years, reconstructed epidermis from cell cultures has been frequently employed, and recent changes in the European chemical policy have approved and encouraged the use of these reconstructed models for skin‐related research works and assessments. Among the techniques used actually to study the skin, Raman microspectroscopy is a rising and powerful nondestructive technique that detects characteristic molecular vibrations. In this study, we created a spectral database to index the vibration peaks and bands of a well‐known reconstructed epidermis model, the Episkin®. The comparison with a native epidermis signal enabled us to put in evidence several spectral differences associated with molecular and structural differences between the skin and the reconstructed model, both maintained in living conditions. In addition to that, we have showed the feasibility of tracking the penetration of a pharmaceutical molecule through the Episkin model. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 87: 261–274, 2007.This article was originally published online as an accepted preprint. The “Published Online” date corresponds to the preprint version. You can request a copy of the preprint by emailing the Biopolymers editorial office at biopolymers@wiley.com

In vivo Raman Microspectroscopy: Intra- and Intersubject Variability of Stratum Corneum Spectral Markers

“…material). Generally, our Raman assignments correlate with those in the literature [26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46]. The Raman spectrum of the SC is dominated by vibrational bands of its structural proteins, lipids, and tissue water.…”

Analysis of human skin tissue by Raman microspectroscopy: Dealing with the background

“…Although the spectra have similar intensities in the range 400 850 cm intensities in the immersion measurements [40,41]. As the spectral features do not evolve significantly as a function of exposure, these spectral differences are simply attributable to slight changes in the morphology in the hydrated state of the tissue compared to the dry state.…”

Comparison of structure and organization of cutaneous lipids in a reconstructed skin model and human skin: spectroscopic imaging and chromatographic profiling

“…Comparison of the morphology at macroscopic and microscopic levels, analyses of biochemical markers, phototoxicity and irritancy testing have been performed (2,7,(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). These constructs have, however, been demonstrated to be limited as models for human skin barrier function (1,(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21), determined by composition and structure of lipids in the stratum corneum (SC) (22)(23)(24)(25). However, no systematic studies of the structure and organization of cutaneous lipids in RSMs compared with human skin have been presented.…”