Fourier transform Raman and infrared vibrational study of human skin: Assignment of spectral bands

Based on recent morphologic, histochemical, and biochemical data, we propose a heterogeneous two-compartment model of the stratum corneum that ascribes a special role for intercellular lipids in the regulation of stratum corneum barrier function and desquamation. The evidence in favor of the model and several predictions based on the model are surveyed in this review.

Large and abrupt changes are observed at 38 degrees C in the 1100 cm(-1) region of the Raman spectrum of aqueous dipalmitoyl lecithin multilayers. They correspond to conformational changes due to the melting of the paraffin side chains. The addition of cholesterol to the multilayers broadens but does not abolish these changes. It is suggested that the addition of cholesterol decreases the interactions between adjacent paraffin side chains of lecithin, causing a change from a cooperative to a noncooperative gel-liquid crystal transition. Removal of water from dipalmitoyl lecithin also results in a noncooperative transition strikingly similar to that caused by addition of cholesterol. Raman spectroscopy thus provides a new and sensitive probe for analyzing the structures of membranes and their constituents.