Center of Experimental and Applied Cutaneous Physiology, Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
Psoriasis Research and Treatment Centre, Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Sep 27;24(19):14636. doi: 10.3390/ijms241914636.
Atopic dermatitis (AD)/atopic eczema is a chronic relapsing inflammatory skin disease affecting nearly 14% of the adult population. An important pathogenetic pillar in AD is the disrupted skin barrier function (SBF). The atopic stratum corneum (SC) has been examined using several methods, including Raman microspectroscopy, yet so far, there is no depth-dependent analysis over the entire SC thickness. Therefore, we recruited 21 AD patients (9 female, 12 male) and compared the lesional (LAS) with non-lesional atopic skin (nLAS) in vivo with confocal Raman microspectroscopy. Our results demonstrated decreased total intercellular lipid and carotenoid concentrations, as well as a shift towards decreased orthorhombic lateral lipid organisation in LAS. Further, we observed a lower concentration of natural moisturising factor (NMF) and a trend towards increased strongly bound and decreased weakly bound water in LAS. Finally, LAS showed an altered secondary and tertiary keratin structure, demonstrating a more folded keratin state than nLAS. The obtained results are discussed in comparison with healthy skin and yield detailed insights into the atopic SC structure. LAS clearly shows molecular alterations at certain SC depths compared with nLAS which imply a reduced SBF. A thorough understanding of these alterations provides useful information on the aetiology of AD and for the development/control of targeted topical therapies.
特应性皮炎（AD）/特应性湿疹是一种影响近 14%成年人的慢性复发性炎症性皮肤病。AD 的一个重要发病机制支柱是皮肤屏障功能（SBF）受损。已经使用多种方法检查了特应性角质层（SC），但到目前为止，还没有对整个 SC 厚度进行深度依赖的分析。因此，我们招募了 21 名 AD 患者（9 名女性，12 名男性），并使用共聚焦拉曼显微镜对病变皮肤（LAS）和非病变特应性皮肤（nLAS）进行了体内比较。我们的结果表明，LAS 中的总细胞间脂质和类胡萝卜素浓度降低，正交层状侧向脂质组织向减少的方向移动。此外，我们观察到 LAS 中的天然保湿因子（NMF）浓度较低，强结合水和弱结合水的比例增加。最后，LAS 显示出二级和三级角蛋白结构的改变，表明其角蛋白状态比 nLAS 更折叠。将获得的结果与健康皮肤进行比较，并深入了解特应性 SC 的结构。与 nLAS 相比，LAS 在某些 SC 深度上显示出明显的分子改变，这意味着 SBF 降低。对这些改变的透彻理解为 AD 的发病机制以及有针对性的局部治疗的开发/控制提供了有用的信息。
