P125THE PORE RULER: DEVELOPMENT OF MEASUREMENT CAPABILITY FOR FACIALPORESCarol Kotkin, Unilever HPC Research, U.S., Edgewater, NJ, United States, Kathy Lanza,Unilever HPC Research, U.S., Edgewater, NJ, United States, Srinivasan Krishnan, PhD,Unilever HPC Research, U.S., Edgewater, NJ, United States, Robert Velthuizen, PhD,Unilever HPC Research, U.S., Edgewater, NJ, United States

A key concern for adult women is the visibility of their facial pores. In order to assessproduct performance in terms of pore size reduction, a reliable, robust measuringtechnique is required. Such a technique would enable pore appearance to be categorizedand/or described objectively. It would provide a tool for consumers to evaluate their ownpores, and provide a basis for clinical grading scales, study design, and product evalua-tion.

One hundred photographs of Japanese women, representing a large range in facial poreappearance, were selected. Eight experts sorted them independently into ten groups ofsimilar pore appearance. Statistical analysis of the ranks of the photographs was used toselect one photograph to represent the average pore size appearance for each group,resulting in an incremental representation of pore size across the population on aten-point (1-10) photographic scale.

The photographic scale was then validated as consumer perceivable in a study whereconsumers ordered randomized sets of the ten photographs consistently in the sameorder as the scale, confirming that the photographic scale was capturing the consumerconcept of enlarged pores. Further validation was achieved by showing that expertscould place photographs of new subjects reliably on the ruler. This led to the develop-ment of a ten-point visual grading scale using the photographic pore ruler as anchorpoints.

The pore ruler and the associated visual grading scale have since been used successfullyto quantify consumer relevant pore size reduction product differences within the Japa-nese population.

Disclosure not available at press time.

100 percent sponsored by Unilever HPC R&D

P126HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY (HRT) MAINTAINS SKIN’S LIPID BARRIERManoj Misra, PhD, Unilever HPC Research, U.S., Edgewater, NJ, United States, CarolFeinberg, Unilever HPC Research, U.S., Edgewater, NJ, United States, Melissa Matzke, MS,Unilever HPC Research, U.S., Edgewater, NJ, United States, David Pocalyko, PhD, UnileverHPC Research, U.S., Edgewater, NJ, United States

The role of estrogen in maintaining the tone and flexibility of the skin is well docu-mented. Post-menopausal decrease in estrogen is known to cause skin dryness and loss ofskin elasticity. Estrogen replacement therapy prevents or slows down many of thesechanges associated with post-menopausal skin. In order to examine the effect of HRT onskin’s barrier properties we compared ultrastructural differences in skin lipids betweenpost-menopausal subjects who were and were not on HRT and compared the results withthe lipids present in pre-menopausal subjects. Six subjects per cell were selected for thestudy and biopsies were obtained from outer lower leg and inner upper arm. All subjectssigned informed consent and had leg dryness score of �2.0. Post-menopausal (age 55-70)subjects had been post-menopausal for a minimum of 5 years. The post-menopausalsubjects (age 55-70) who were on HRT were required to have used a non-bleed form ofHRT (estrogen � progesterone) at a constant dose for a minimum of 5 years. Pre-menopausal subjects, on the other hand, were of age 20-30 and were required to have aregular menstrual cycle. Ultrastructural study of lipids was performed using transmissionelectron microscopy.

The pre-menopausal subjects and the post-menopausal subjects who were on HRTshowed presence of well-ordered lipid lamellae. However, the post-menopausal subjectswho were not on HRT had severely degraded lipids. Quantification of lipid coveredregions was performed by applying edge detection techniques to low magnificationmicrographs, that allowed one to compute the lengths of lipid covered regions ofcorneocytes in upper layers of stratum corneum. Ratio length was defined as the ratio oflipid length to corneocyte length. An ideal ratio length would be ‘one’ amounting tocomplete coverage of corneocytes by lipids. Statistical analysis of the data showed thatthe ratio length for the HRT treated subjects, 0.7, was significantly greater than that forpost-menopausal subjects, 0.48, who were not on HRT (p � 0.024). No significantdifferences were, however, observed between the subjects who were on HRT and thepre-menopausal subjects. The quantitative measurement of lipids confirmed the visualdifferences observed in the micrographs i.e. the lipids were better preserved in the HRTtreated post-menopausal subjects compared to those who were not on HRT.

Disclosure not available at press time.

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P127EFFECT OF RETINOL AND ANTI-IRRITANT OILS ON STRATUM CORNEUM LIPIDORGANISATIONDavid J. Moore, PhD, Unilever HPC Research, U.S., Edgewater, NJ, United States, SrividyaRamakrishnan, Unilever HPC Research, U.S., Edgewater, NJ, United States

Retinol is formulated into a variety of topical skin care products used to manage a rangeof dermatological conditions. In addition to their efficacy, however, retinoids can also beirritating to the skin. The objective of the current study was to understand the effect ofretinol and anti-irritant oils on the organization of stratum corneum (SC) lipids. A modellipid barrier, consisting of the major lipid constituents of SC, ceramides, cholesterol andfatty acids was used to study the impact of retinol on SC lipid organization. Biophysicaltechniques such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and differential scan-ning calorimetry (DSC) were employed to measure alterations in barrier lipid phasebehavior. The addition of retinol at concentrations as low as 1.5mol% was observed todisrupt the SC lipid bilayers, effectively fluidizing some of the barrier lipids. Disruption ofSC lipid organization can lead directly to decreased barrier function, and potentially, skinirritation. The disrupting effect of retinol was concentration dependent, being morepronounced at 15mol% retinol in the SC model lipid system. To compliment the modelSC lipid studies, we also measured changes in barrier lipid organization in isolated SCtreated with retinol. Lipid organization was disrupted in intact SC in agreement with themodel lipid studies. Interestingly, certain oils were observed to restore lipid organizationto control levels when applied to retinol treated SC. This suggests one possible mecha-nism for mitigating retinol-induced irritation maybe in controlling SC lipid disruption.

Disclosure not available at press time.

100 percent sponsored by Unilever

P128INFRARED SPECTROSCOPIC IMAGING OF SKINDavid J. Moore, PhD, Unilever HPC Research, U.S., Edgewater, NJ, United States

Infrared (IR) microscopic imaging is new spectroscopic imaging technology that canprovide unique insight into the molecular composition and architecture of biomedicalsamples, such as skin and bone. In a series of proof-of-principle experiments we havedemonstrated that IR imaging of skin can directly image the distribution of variousendogenous epidermal molecules, as well as topically applied exogenous molecules. IRimages are constructed from an array of complete individual IR spectra, and therefore anyspecific spectral parameter, arising from either an exogenous or endogenous tissuecomponent may be quantitatively analyzed across the sample. The results are then usedto generate a spatially resolved image of that particular parameter. Thus, for example, wecan generate images mapping the spatial heterogeneity and relative concentration ofprotein and lipid components within a skin section. In transverse slices of skin the depthdependencies of the spatial distribution of triglyceride and protein have been monitoredand compared to those of topically applied exogenous penetration enhancers. We arecurrently using this IR imaging to map the distribution of topically applied functionalmolecules across the surface of skin in sections cut parallel to the skin surface, atechnique we have recently used successfully to map the distribution of UV absorbingsunscreen molecules on skin.

The presentation will describe this nascent imaging technology including how to imageskin sections to generate spatially resolved molecular images. Experimental results fromour initial studies will be presented, demonstrating that IR microscopic imaging has greatpotential to provide new insights across a range of problems in skin research.

Disclosure not available at press time.

100 percent sponsored by Unilever

P32 J AM ACAD DERMATOL MARCH 2004