Quantitative determination of water in the skin by 1H NMR

Studies were made on determination of the amount of water in rat skin by 1H NMR spectroscopy. The NMR spectrum obtained depended on how the skin was packed into the NMR tube. Consistent results were obtained by packing the skin into a specially designed NMR cell. By this technique the amount of water in the skin could be measured accurately, and results were comparable with those obtained by differential scanning calorimetry. The water content of the skin of rats was consistently about 20% more in females than in males.