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Updated: Jun 25, 2026
Isolation and Culture of Primary Mouse Keratinocytes from Neonatal and Adult Mouse Skin
Published on: July 14, 2017
IL-1alpha accelerates stratum corneum formation and improves permeability barrier homeostasis during murine fetal
Yan J Jiang1, Biao Lu, Debra Crumrine
1Metabolism Section, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and Departments of Dermatology and Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, United States. yan.jiang@med.va.gov <yan.jiang@med.va.gov>
Background:
The ontogenesis of the epidermal permeability barrier is complex and incompletely understood. Previously we showed that IL-1 and TNFalpha regulate permeability barrier homeostasis in adult mice.
Object:
We determined whether IL-1 and TNFalpha also regulate fetal barrier development.
Methods:
Messenger RNA and protein levels in epidermis were determined by real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Epidermal ultra-structure was examined by electron microscopy.
Results:
The protein expression of IL-1alpha/beta and TNFalpha peaked in fetal rat epidermis at gestational age d19-20, a time point that coincides with the formation of a competent barrier. Treatment of fetal rat explants with IL-1 or TNFalpha accelerates barrier formation in a time- and dose-related fashion, evidenced by a decrease in transepidermal water loss attributable to the presence of mature morphology and an increase in the expression of cornified envelope proteins. Using single receptor KO mice, we demonstrated a delay in both barrier formation and cornified envelope protein expression, paralleled with immature lamellar membranes in epidermis of IL-1R KO, but not TNFR KO vs. wild-type at day 17, differences that disappeared in later gestational stages and immediately after birth. Using TNF receptor and IL-1 receptor double knock out (D-KO) mice, we further demonstrated that a transient delay in barrier development consistently occurs in epidermis of D-KO mice.
Conclusion:
IL-1 plays a role in regulating the late stages of SC formation and permeability barrier ontogenesis.
