Immunomodulatory effects of tretinoin in combination with clindamycin.

Background: Since acne is a multifactorial skin disease, therapies affecting several etiologic factors can have a higher than expected effectiveness. A combination of the antibiotic clindamycin phosphate and the retinoic acid tretinoin was developed.

Objective: Anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of tretinoin in vitro were studied on human keratinocytes and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).

Effects of topical treatment with budesonide on parameters for epidermal proliferation, keratinization and inflammation in psoriasis.

Corticosteroids are important in the treatment of inflammatory dermatoses, such as psoriasis. They have anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative and immunosuppressive effects. In this study, the effect of budesonide on proliferation, inflammatory cells and cytokines in psoriasis was investigated.

Corticosteroids class-dependently inhibit in vitro Th1- and Th2-type cytokine production.

Corticosteroids (CS) are very potent immunosuppressive agents and are widely used to treat inflammatory diseases. On the basis of their clinical efficacy and potency CS have been divided into different classes. In the present study we investigated whether the class-associated effects of CS are correlated with a differential in vitro effect on cytokine production by T lymphocytes.

Nitroglycerin and sucrose permeability as quality markers for reconstructed human epidermis.

In order to evaluate the epidermal permeability barrier of in vitro reconstructed epidermis, the penetration of nitroglycerin (NG) and sucrose were measured across human keratinocytes cultured at the air-liquid interface, using de-epidermized dermis (DED) as a substrate. In the presence of reconstructed epidermis on top of DED the penetration rate of sucrose is about 100 times and that of NG 2 times lower, as compared to DED only, indicating that the stratum corneum of the cultured epidermis exhibits considerable barrier capacity. The permeability of reconstructed epidermis was for both solutes higher (3- to 10-fold) than that of freshly excised human skin.