Lydia Costello
Development of a novel in vitro strategy to understand the impact of shaving on skin health: combining tape strip exfoliation and human skin equivalent technology
Costello, Lydia; Goncalves, Kirsty; Maltman, Victoria; Barrett, Nicole; Shah, Kous; Stephens, Alison; Dicolandrea, Tereasa; Ambrogio, Ilaria; Hodgson, Erica; Przyborski, Stefan
Authors
Kirsty Goncalves kirsty.e.goncalves@durham.ac.uk
Post Doctoral Research Associate
Dr Victoria Maltman victoria.b.maltman@durham.ac.uk
Post Doctoral Research Associate
Nicole Barrett nicole.barrett@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy
Kous Shah
Alison Stephens
Tereasa Dicolandrea
Ilaria Ambrogio
Erica Hodgson
Professor Stefan Przyborski stefan.przyborski@durham.ac.uk
Deputy Provost
Abstract
Introduction: The removal of unwanted hair is a widespread grooming practice adopted by both males and females. Although many depilatory techniques are now available, shaving remains the most common, despite its propensity to irritate skin. Current techniques to investigate the impact of shaving regimes on skin health rely on costly and lengthy clinical trials, which hinge on recruitment of human volunteers and can require invasive biopsies to elucidate cellular and molecular-level changes. Methods: Well-characterised human skin equivalent technology was combined with a commonplace dermatological technique of tape stripping, to remove cellular material from the uppermost layer of the skin (stratum corneum). This method of exfoliation recapitulated aspects of razor-based shaving in vitro, offering a robust and standardised in vitro method to study inflammatory processes such as those invoked by grooming practices. Results: Tape strip insult induced inflammatory changes in the skin equivalent such as: increased epidermal proliferation, epidermal thickening, increased cytokine production and impaired barrier function. These changes paralleled effects seen with a single dry razor pass, correlated with the number of tape strips removed, and were attenuated by pre-application of shaving foam, or post-application of moisturisation. Discussion: Tape strip removal is a common dermatological technique, in this study we demonstrate a novel application of tape stripping, to mimic barrier damage and inflammation associated with a dry shave. We validate this method, comparing it to razor-based shaving in vitro and demonstrate the propensity of suitable shave- and skin-care formulations to mitigate damage. This provides a novel methodology to examine grooming associated damage and a platform for screening potential skin care formulations.
Citation
Costello, L., Goncalves, K., Maltman, V., Barrett, N., Shah, K., Stephens, A., …Przyborski, S. (2023). Development of a novel in vitro strategy to understand the impact of shaving on skin health: combining tape strip exfoliation and human skin equivalent technology. Frontiers in Medicine, 10, Article 1236790. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2023.1236790
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Oct 19, 2023 |
Online Publication Date | Nov 2, 2023 |
Publication Date | 2023 |
Deposit Date | Nov 23, 2023 |
Publicly Available Date | Nov 23, 2023 |
Journal | Frontiers in Medicine |
Publisher | Frontiers Media |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 10 |
Article Number | 1236790 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2023.1236790 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1932638 |
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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright Statement
Copyright: 2023 Costello, Goncalves, Maltman, Barrett, Shah, Stephens, Dicolandrea, Ambrogio, Hodgson and Przyborski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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