Founded in early 2005, StratiCELL is a leading company assisting the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and chemical industries to the safety and efficacy evaluation of their actives and products by means of in vitro models and methods in a GLP-compliant environment.
StratiCELL is a skin model manufacturer and a project-driven services provider for in vitro testing, with a particular emphasis on testing of skin care actives and products
Skin Barrier Function
Dry, aged, and diseased skin (psoriasis, atopic dermatosis) are characterized by loss of protein functions involved in corneocyte maturation, desquamation, hydration, loss of skin barrier properties. The benefits of specific treatments, either cosmetics or pharmaceuticals, can be evaluated through monitoring of biological pathways. Moreover, the efficacy of the skin barrier can also be evaluated.
In vitro biological endpoints for skin barrier function
- Histo-morphological analysis of in vitro skin models;
- Immunofluorescence labelling of proteins involved in corneocyte maturation, desquamation, or hydration;
- Evaluation of the skin barrier efficacy by measuring the trans-epidermal electrical resistance (TEER);
- Study of penetration kinetics of reference molecule (exhibiting similar physico-chemical properties as the active of interest) in the reconstituted human epidermis or in ex vivo skin biopsies using Franz-type diffusion cells combined with an analytical follow-up detection technique;
- Determination of the effect of a substance/formulation on the diffusion of a coloring dye through in vitro skin models;
- Transglutaminase activity assay in reconstituted human epidermis;
- Evaluation of expression profile of key genes involved in the afore mentioned biological processes;
- Measurement of water content by corneometry.
Biology processes involved in skin barrier function
The uppermost layer of the skin, the stratum corneum, constitutes a mechanical barrier to the invasion of microorganisms and toxic chemical substances into the body and participates to maintain the homeostasis toward the prevention of uncontrolled loss or entry of water.
The controlled water movement regulates the outer layers hydration of epidermis and thus enables enzymatic reactions involved in the cornification and desquamation processes. This is a well-orchestrated biological process, which is often defective or altered in dry aged and diseased skin.
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Immunofluorescence of Filaggrin/Desmoglein1/Claudin1 in sections of StratiCELL® reconstituted human epidermis EPI/001 (Filaggrin, Desmoglein,
or Claudin1 are stained in green, cell nuclei are counter-stained in red with TOPRO staining)
Immunohistochemistry of Filaggrin in EPI/001 (Filaggrin is visualized in brown)
