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Corneocyte Size and Cell Renewal: Effects of Aging and Sex Hormones

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Textbook of Aging Skin

Abstract

The stratum corneum is viewed currently as a layer of protein-enriched corneocytes embedded in a lipid-enriched, intercellular matrix [1], the so-called bricks and mortar model. The “bricks” are corneocytes surrounded by a cornified cell envelope made up of proteins, mainly loricrin, filaggrin, and involucrin, and covalently bound to the hydroxyceramide molecules of a lipid envelope. These “bricks” are embedded in a “mortar” of lipid bilayers [2–4]. The so-called mortar contains a variety of intercellular lipids including, ceramides, free sterols and sterolesters, cholesterolsulfate, and free fatty acids. The stratum corneum continually renews itself, and there is a steady state between the proliferation and differentiation process of keratinocytes and desquamation of corneocytes.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. San Gallicano Dermatological Institute, Rome, Italy

    Enzo Berardesca

  2. Bioskin, Berlin, Germany

    Joachim Fluhr

Authors
  1. Enzo Berardesca
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  2. Joachim Fluhr
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Procter & Gamble Company, 6110 Center Hill Avenue, 45224, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Miranda A. Farage Ph.D. (Principal Scientist) (Principal Scientist)

  2. The Procter & Gamble Company, 6110 Center Hill Avenue, 45224, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Kenneth W. Miller Ph.D. (Associate Director) (Associate Director)

  3. Department of Dermatology, University of California, School of Medicine, 222 SE 8th Ave., Suite 563, 94122, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Howard I. Maibach M.D. (Professor) (Professor)

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© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Berardesca, E., Fluhr, J. (2010). Corneocyte Size and Cell Renewal: Effects of Aging and Sex Hormones. In: Farage, M.A., Miller, K.W., Maibach, H.I. (eds) Textbook of Aging Skin. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-89656-2_36

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-89656-2_36

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-89655-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-89656-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine

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