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Implementation of fatty acid carriers to skin irritation and the epidermal barrier
Author(s) -
Schürer N. Y.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
contact dermatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1600-0536
pISSN - 0105-1873
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0536.2002.470402.x
Subject(s) - barrier function , chemistry , irritation , fatty acid , lamellar granule , lipid metabolism , epidermis (zoology) , keratinocyte , biochemistry , human skin , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , immunology , pulmonary surfactant , in vitro , genetics , anatomy
Acute perturbations are followed by barrier repair and enhanced lipid synthesis, as well as cellular fatty acid trafficking, yet irritation of the skin may be induced by repeat disturbance of barrier function. Recently, new insights in cellular fatty acid transport and metabolism have evolved with respect to skin irritation and barrier disturbances: (1) Employing sodium dodecyl sulfate, skin irritation is accompanied by the induction of an epidermal (E) cytosolic fatty acid binding protein (FABP) associated with enhanced barrier repair. Whether E‐FABP contributes to the water barrier function in normal skin remains to be elucidated; (2) Cutaneous inflammation, as it occurs in irritant contact dermatitis, can be reduced by peroxisome proliferating activated receptor (PPAR) agonists, such as linoleic acid, with clinical effects comparable to that of glucocorticoids; (3) PPARα agonists accelerate barrier recovery and enhance lamellar body synthesis, neutral lipid synthesis, in particular that of ceramides and cholesterol; (4) PPARα agonists increase the minimal erythema dose in UVB‐irradiated human skin. This review provides a brief overview of the current understanding of mammalian fatty acid (FA) metabolism with respect to epidermal barrier abrogation and repair, including new insights into cellular FA transport and metabolism.