Keratinocytes lipid composition

M. Ponec, A. Weerheim, J. Kempenaar, A. M. Mommaas, and D. H. Nugteren, Lipid composition of cultured human keratinocytes in relation to their differentiation. J. Lipid Res. 29 949-996 (1988). 

The most superficial layer of skin is the stratum comeum (SC), which consists of terminally differentiated keratinocytes (comeocytes) that originate from actively proliferating keratinocytes in lower epidermis (basale, spinosum, and granulosum cells), and contain a lamellar lipid layer secreted from lamellar bodies (Fig. 7a). Flydration of the SC is an important determinant of skin appearance and physical properties, and depends on a number of factors including the external humidity, and its structure, lipid/protein composition, barrier properties, and concentration of water-retaining osmolytes (natural moisturizing factors, NMFs) including free amino acids, ions, and other small solutes. 

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