Irritants and Skin Barrier Function

The barrier response to irritant challenge involves complex biologic events and can be modulated by various environmental, exposure and host-related factors. Irritant damage to the epidermal barrier elicits a cascade of homeostatic or pathologic responses that could be investigated by both in vitro and in vivo methods providing different information at biochemical and functional level. The present chapter summarizes the changes in key barrier function parameters following irritant exposure with focus on experimental controlled in vivo human skin studies.