Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Human skin barrier structure and function analyzed by cryo-EM and molecular dynamics simulation
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. Stockholm University, Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab). KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2734-2794
Show others and affiliations
Number of Authors: 62018 (English)In: Journal of Structural Biology, ISSN 1047-8477, E-ISSN 1095-8657, Vol. 203, no 2, p. 149-161Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In the present study we have analyzed the molecular structure and function of the human skin's permeability barrier using molecular dynamics simulation validated against cryo-electron microscopy data from near native skin. The skin's barrier capacity is located to an intercellular lipid structure embedding the cells of the superficial most layer of skin - the stratum corneum. According to the splayed bilayer model (Iwai et al., 2012) the lipid structure is organized as stacked bilayers of ceramides in a splayed chain conformation with cholesterol associated with the ceramide sphingoid moiety and free fatty acids associated with the ceramide fatty acid moiety. However, knowledge about the lipid structure's detailed molecular organization, and the roles of its different lipid constituents, remains circumstantial. Starting from a molecular dynamics model based on the splayed bilayer model, we have, by stepwise structural and compositional modifications, arrived at a thermodynamically stable molecular dynamics model expressing simulated electron microscopy patterns matching original cryo-electron microscopy patterns from skin extremely closely. Strikingly, the closer the individual molecular dynamics models' lipid composition was to that reported in human stratum corneum, the better was the match between the models' simulated electron microscopy patterns and the original cryo-electron microscopy patterns. Moreover, the closest-matching model's calculated water permeability and thermotropic behaviour were found compatible with that of human skin. The new model may facilitate more advanced physics-based skin permeability predictions of drugs and toxicants. The proposed procedure for molecular dynamics based analysis of cellular cryo-electron microscopy data might be applied to other biomolecular systems.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2018. Vol. 203, no 2, p. 149-161
Keywords [en]
Stratum corneum, Skin permeation, Cryo-EM, Molecular dynamics simulation, Lipids
National Category
Biological Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-159037DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2018.04.005ISI: 000437807900010PubMedID: 29702212OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-159037DiVA, id: diva2:1245050
Available from: 2018-09-04 Created: 2018-09-04 Last updated: 2022-03-23Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMed

Authority records

Lindahl, Erik

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Lindahl, Erik
By organisation
Department of Biochemistry and BiophysicsScience for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab)
In the same journal
Journal of Structural Biology
Biological Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 45 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf