Korean J Dermatol.  2000 Feb;38(2):183-190.

Perturbation and Recovery of the Skin Barrier Function After Tape Stripping and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Irritation

• Shin KY
• Park CW
• Lee CH

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The main function of the stratum corneum is to serve as a barrier preventing the penetration of irritants and transepidermal water loss (TEWL). Previous studies have shown that the cutaneous barrier disruption by application of acetone or sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and tape stripping leads to various metabolic changes. Recent studies showed that there was some difference in the recovery rate between tape-stripped groups and acetone-treated groups, and an individual irritant not only exerted rather specific morphologic effects on the cellular components of the keratinocyte but also induced distinct morphological alterations of the different components of the stratum corneum. In other words, this data suggested that individual irritants could show different cutaneous barrier recoveries.
OBJECTIVE
This study was done to compare the recovery rate after cutaneous barrier disruption between a tape-stripped group and a SLS irritated group, and to test the relationship among baseline TEWL, TEWL after the SLS irritation, recovery of TEWL, and number of strippings needed to increase TEWL up to 20g/m2/h.
METHODS
The permeability barrier of normal human skin was disrupted by tape stripping and patch of SLS and the recovery rate was assessed by measure of TEWL and erythema (E-) index.
RESULTS
The number of tape strippings needed to increase TEWL up to 20g/m2/h was 32.7+-9.6 (20-50). The recovery rate of TEWL was 56.85+-17.97% twenty-four hours after tape stripping and 51.55+/-24.73% after patch removal, and 82.70+/-8.70% and 76.61+/-11.14% four days after tape stripping and patch removal. There was no significant difference in the recovery rate of TEWL after the two methods of epidermal barrier perturbation. All the correlations among baseline TEWL, TEWL after the SLS irritation, recovery of TEWL, and number of strippings were not significant statistically. E-index after the tape stripping was 12.07+/-2.95 and higher than that after removal of SLS, 11.20+/-2.51. There was irregular recovery of E-index in the SLS irritated group, but not irregular in the tape-stripped group. There was no significant difference in the recovery rate between the two groups.
CONCLUSION
There was no significant difference in the recovery rates of TEWL and E-index between the tape-stripped group and the SLS irritated group. We suggest that TEWL measurements may be more desirable than the measurement of E-index in the study of perturbation and recovery of the skin barrier function.

Keyword

Erythema index; Sodium lauryl sulfate; Tape stripping; Transepidermal water loss

MeSH Terms

Acetone
Erythema
Humans
Irritants
Keratinocytes
Permeability
Skin*
Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate*
Sodium*
Acetone
Irritants
Sodium
Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate