Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2025
Resolving Water, Proteins, and Lipids from In Vivo Confocal Raman Spectra of Stratum Corneum through a Chemometric Approach
Published on: September 26, 2019
Effect of Penetration Enhancer on the Structure of Stratum Corneum: On-Site Study by Confocal Polarized Raman Imaging
Feng Zhong1, Hangwei Lu1,2, Ru Meng1
1The Education Ministry Key Lab of Resource Chemistry, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Municipal Education Committee Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging Probes and Sensors, and Department of Chemistry, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, P.R. China.
Abstract:
Keratin and lipid structures in the stratum corneum (SC) are closely related to the SC barrier function. The application of penetration enhancers (PEs) disrupts the structure of SC, thereby promoting infiltration. To quantify these PE-induced structural changes in SC, we used confocal Raman imaging (CRI) and polarized Raman imaging (PRI) to explore the integrity and continuity of keratin and lipid structures in SC. The results showed that water is the safest PE and that oleic acid (OA), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and low molecular weight protamine (LMWP) disrupted the ordered structure of keratin, while azone and liposomes had less of an effect on keratin. Azone, OA, and SDS also led to significant changes in lipid structure, while LMWP and liposomes had less of an effect. Establishing this non-invasive and efficient strategy will provide new insights into transdermal drug delivery and skin health management.
