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Science 7 March 1980:
Vol. 207. no. 4435, pp. 1077 - 1079
DOI: 10.1126/science.207.4435.1077
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Articles

Lipid Barrier to Water Exchange in Reptile Epidermis

JOHNNA B. ROBERTS 1 and HARVEY B. LILLYWHITE 1

1 Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence 66045

Extraction of lipids from the shed epidermis of the terrestrial snake Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta increases cutaneous water loss in vitro as much as 15-fold. Partial denaturation of epidermal keratin without lipid extraction increases cutaneous water loss only twofold. Histological observations and thin-layer and gas-liquid chromatography of the lipid extracts indicate a complex mixture of polar and neutral lipids predominantly in the mesos layer of the cornified epidermis. Comparative measurements of cutaneous water loss in other species of snakes and a lizard show that permeabilities differ naturally but are essentially identical after lipid extraction. These findings establish the importance of lipids in the permeability barrier of reptilian skin and suggest that keratin or scale morphology are of nominal importance in limiting water exchange.

Submitted on August 15, 1979
Revised on October 11, 1979


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Water exchange and permeability properties of the skin in three species of amphibious sea snakes (Laticauda spp.).
H. B. Lillywhite, J. G. Menon, G. K. Menon, C. M. Sheehy 3rd, and M. C. Tu (2009)
J. Exp. Biol. 212, 1921-1929
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Water relations of tetrapod integument.
H. B. Lillywhite (2006)
J. Exp. Biol. 209, 202-226
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Postnatal ecdysis establishes the permeability barrier in snake skin: new insights into barrier lipid structures.
M. C. Tu, H. B. Lillywhite, J. G. Menon, and G. K. Menon (2002)
J. Exp. Biol. 205, 3019-3030
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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