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Why is sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI) mild to the skin barrier?–An in vitro investigation based on the relative sizes of the SCI micelles and the skin aqueous pores
Author(s) -
Ghosh Saswata,
Blankschtein Daniel
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international journal of cosmetic science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1468-2494
pISSN - 0142-5463
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2494.2007.00405_3.x
Subject(s) - micelle , chemistry , aqueous solution , penetration (warfare) , sodium dodecyl sulfate , pulmonary surfactant , dry skin , stratum corneum , transepidermal water loss , sodium , chromatography , biophysics , organic chemistry , biochemistry , dermatology , medicine , operations research , pathology , engineering , biology
Sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI) is an important surfactant ingredient in mild, syndet (synthetic detergent) cleansing bars. In vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that SCI is mild and less damaging to the skin barrier than soaps and surfactants such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). We have recently shown that SDS forms small micelles in aqueous solutions contacting the skin relative to the aqueous pores in the stratum corneum (SC), and as a result, the SDS micelles can contribute to SDS skin penetration and induce skin barrier perturbation. In this paper, we attempt to explain the well‐documented skin mildness of SCI by examining the size of the SCI micelles relative to that of the aqueous pores in the SC. For this purpose, we have conducted in vitro mannitol skin permeability and average skin electrical resistivity measurements upon exposure of the skin to an aqueous SCI contacting solution in the context of a hindered‐transport aqueous porous pathway model of the SC. These in vitro studies demonstrate that an SCI micelle of radius 33.5 ± 1 Å (as determined using dynamic light‐scattering measurements) experiences significant steric hindrance and cannot penetrate into the SC through aqueous pores that have an average radius of 29 ± 5 Å.We believe that this inability of the SCI micelles to contribute to SCI skin penetration and associated skin barrier perturbation is responsible for the observed skin mildness of SCI. Through in vitro quantitative skin radioactivity assays using 14 C‐radiolabeled SCI and pig full‐thickness skin (p‐FTS), we also show conclusively that SCI skin penetration is dose‐independent, an important finding that provides additional evidence that the larger SCI micelles cannot penetrate into the SC through the smaller aqueous pores that exist in the SC, and therefore, cannot induce skin barrier perturbation.