Current Understanding of Skin Barrier Morphology

It was recently shown that the stratum corneum fat layer, i.e. the skin permeability barrier, has a unique molecular arrangement - stacked bilayers of fully extended ceramides with cholesterol molecules associated with the ceramide sphingoid moiety. We here give a brief historical perspective to the field of skin permeability barrier research and specifically address some selected contributions to the current understanding of skin barrier morphology. (c) 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel