Lamellar Lipid Organization and Ceramide Composition in the Stratum Corneum of Patients with Atopic Eczema  Michelle Janssens, Jeroen van Smeden, Gert S. Gooris, Wim Bras, Guiseppe Portale, Peter J. Caspers, Rob J. Vreeken, Sanja Kezic, Adriana P.M. Lavrijsen, Joke A. Bouwstra  Journal of Investigative Dermatology  Volume 131, Issue 10, Pages 2136-2138 (October 2011) DOI: 10.1038/jid.2011.175 Copyright © 2011 The Society for Investigative Dermatology, Inc Terms and Conditions

Figure 1 Small angle X-ray diffraction analysis of biopsies taken from the ventral forearm. Diffraction patterns of (a) healthy subjects, (b) atopic eczema patients, and (c) boxplots showing the variance of the main peak position in both groups. The inset in the upper right corner of a schematically represents the lipid organization and shows the periodicity of the LPP (d≈12.6nm). 2460 and 2461 indicate patients with an altered small angle X-ray diffraction (SAXD) profile (indicated by * and **). # Indicates phase-separated cholesterol. From the positions of the peaks (q) the repeat distance of the long-periodicity phase (LPP) was calculated using the equation d=n·2π/qn (n=order of diffraction peak). The main peak is also caused by the first-order diffraction peak of the short-periodicity phase (SPP) located at slightly higher q-values than the second order of the LPP. Journal of Investigative Dermatology 2011 131, 2136-2138DOI: (10.1038/jid.2011.175) Copyright © 2011 The Society for Investigative Dermatology, Inc Terms and Conditions

Figure 2 Liquid-chromatography mass-spectrometry analysis on human stratum corneum ceramides obtained from tape strips taken from the ventral forearm. To permit semi-quantitative analysis, two deuterated ceramides (CER [E(18:2)O(30)S(18)] and CER [N(24)S(18)]) were used as internal standards. (a) Bar graph of the relative ceramide abundance (in percentages) of every ceramide subclass of healthy subjects (black bars) and atopic eczema (AE) patients (gray bars) (mean±SD, n=12). An unpaired Student's t-test showed a significant difference in NP content between healthy and AE subjects (P<0.005). (b) Boxplot of the relative ceramide abundance (in percentages) of the ceramide (esterified ω-hydroxy (EO)) subclasses, showing the individual data points (n=12). White and gray boxes represent healthy subjects and AE patients, respectively. Analysis of variance showed a significant difference in the total EO content (EOdS+EOS+EOP+EOH: P<0.05). Individual AE patients marked as 2460 and 2461 correspond to the same patients labeled in Figure 1. Journal of Investigative Dermatology 2011 131, 2136-2138DOI: (10.1038/jid.2011.175) Copyright © 2011 The Society for Investigative Dermatology, Inc Terms and Conditions