Sebum Analysis Using a Hydrophobic Lipid-Absorbent Tape (Sebutape®)

Abstract

Sebaceous glands produce sebum by a holocrine process beginning with the proliferation of cuboidal cells present at the periphery of acini and in intraglandular trabecule. Cells then move towards the center of the glands and enlarge during lipid synthesis. Finally the cell wall ruptures. The lipid content and the cellular remnants are discharged as sebum into the sebaceous duct and the pilosebaceous infundibulum, which is a large reservoir containing considerable amounts of sebum. This reservoir affects the rate of delivery of sebum to the surface of the stratum corneum, which itself may be considered as a sponge that entraps lipids. Thus the amount of lipids collected at the surface of the skin is the result of many parameters and may not accurately reflect metabolic events in the glands themselves.