Permeability of model stratum corneum lipid membrane measured using quartz crystal microbalance.

The stratum corneum (SC) is the outermost layer of the epidermis. Stacked intercellular lipid membranes found in the SC play a crucial role in regulating water transport through the skin. Despite the importance of this role of the SC lipid membranes, only a few studies have presented quantitative methods to measure the permeability of water in SC lipid membranes. In this work, we present a new method to determine the water permeability of a model SC lipid membrane using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). We investigate a model SC lipid membrane comprising an equimolar mixture of brain ceramide (CER), cholesterol (CHO), and palmitic acid (PA), and use QCM to determine the diffusivity (D), solubility (S,) and permeability (P) of water vapor in the model SC lipid membrane.