PMID- 17402763
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20070627
LR  - 20070501
IS  - 0743-7463 (Print)
IS  - 0743-7463 (Linking)
VI  - 23
IP  - 10
DP  - 2007 May 8
TI  - Fatty acids influence "solid" phase formation in models of stratum corneum 
      intercellular membranes.
PG  - 5548-56
AB  - Stacked intercellular lipid membranes in the uppermost epidermal layer, the 
      stratum corneum (SC), are responsible for skin's barrier function. These 
      membranes are unique in composition, the major lipids being ceramides (Cer), 
      cholesterol, and free fatty acids (FFA) in approximately equimolar proportions. 
      Notably, SC lipids include chains much longer than those of most biological 
      membranes. Previously we showed that Cer's small hydrophilic headgroup enabled SC 
      model membranes composed of bovine brain ceramide (BBCer), cholesterol, and 
      palmitic acid in equimolar proportion to solidify at pH 5.2. In order to 
      determine the influence of FFA chain length on the phase behavior of such 
      membranes, we used 2H NMR and FT-IR to study BBCer/cholesterol/FFA dispersions 
      containing linear saturated FFA 14-22 carbons long. Independent of chain length, 
      the solid phase dominated the FFA spectrum at physiological temperature. Upon 
      heating, each dispersion underwent phase transitions to a liquid crystalline 
      phase (only weakly evident for the membrane containing FFA-C22) and then to an 
      isotropic phase. The phase behavior, the lipid mixing properties, and the 
      transition temperatures are shown to depend strongly on FFA chain length. A 
      distribution of FFA chain lengths is found in the SC and could be required for 
      the coexistence of a proportion of solid lipids with some more fluid domains, 
      which is known to be necessary for normal skin barrier function.
FAU - Chen, Xin
AU  - Chen X
AD  - Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 
      British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z1.
FAU - Kwak, Sungjong
AU  - Kwak S
FAU - Lafleur, Michel
AU  - Lafleur M
FAU - Bloom, Myer
AU  - Bloom M
FAU - Kitson, Neil
AU  - Kitson N
FAU - Thewalt, Jenifer
AU  - Thewalt J
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20070403
PL  - United States
TA  - Langmuir
JT  - Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids
JID - 9882736
RN  - 0 (Fatty Acids)
RN  - 0 (Membrane Lipids)
RN  - 0 (Membranes, Artificial)
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Cattle
MH  - Epidermis/*chemistry
MH  - Fatty Acids/*chemistry
MH  - Membrane Lipids/*chemistry
MH  - *Membranes, Artificial
MH  - *Models, Chemical
EDAT- 2007/04/04 09:00
MHDA- 2007/06/28 09:00
CRDT- 2007/04/04 09:00
PHST- 2007/04/04 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2007/06/28 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2007/04/04 09:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1021/la063640+ [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Langmuir. 2007 May 8;23(10):5548-56. doi: 10.1021/la063640+. Epub 2007 Apr 3.