Unveiling the Metabolomic Profile of Oily Sensitive Skin: A Non-Invasive Approach

Abstract

Skin barrier impairment is becoming increasingly common due to changes in lifestyle and modern living environments. Oily sensitive skin (OSS) is a condition that is characterized by an impaired skin barrier. Thus, examining the differences between OSS and healthy skin will enable a more objective evaluation of the characteristics of OSS and facilitate investigations of potential treatments. Initially, a self-assessment questionnaire was used to identify patients with OSS. Biophysical measurements and LAST scores were used to determine whether skin barrier function was impaired. Epidermal biophysical properties, including skin hydration, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), sebum content, erythema index (EI), and a* value, were measured with noninvasive instruments. We subsequently devised a noninvasive D-square sampling technique to identify changes in the skin metabolome in conjunction with an untargeted metabolomics analysis with an Orbitrap Q ExactiveTM series mass spectrometer. In the stratum corneum of 47 subjects, 516 skin metabolites were identified. In subjects with OSS, there was an increase in the abundance of 15 metabolites and a decrease in the abundance of 48 metabolites. The participants with OSS were found to have the greatest disruptions in sphingolipid and amino acid metabolism. The results revealed that an impaired skin barrier is present in patients with OSS and offers a molecular target for screening for skin barrier damage.

Keywords: compromised skin barrier; oily sensitive skin; questionnaire; untargeted metabolomics.

Figure 1

The results in healthy skin (HS), mild oily sensitive skin (mild OSS), moderate oily sensitive skin (moderate OSS), and severe oily sensitive skin (severe OSS) subjects of sebum content in ug/cm² (A), erythema index in arbitrary units (a.u.) (B), redness a* values in arbitrary units (a.u.) (C), skin hydration in arbitrary units (a.u.) (D), and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) in g/m²∙h (E), LAST scores (F). The values are expressed as mean ± SD. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 compared with healthy skin (n = 47).

Figure 2

Multivariate analysis of skin metabolites. (A) Distribution of various skin metabolites. (B) PLS-DA score plots among healthy skin (HS) group, mild oily sensitive skin group (mild OSS), moderate oily sensitive skin group (moderate OSS), severe oily sensitive skin (severe OSS) group. (C) The hierarchical clustering heatmaps of metabolites with differences among four groups. Each colored cell on the map corresponds to peak intensity, with samples shown in column and metabolites shown in row. A, HS group, B, mild OSS group, C, moderate OSS group, D, severe OSS group. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend).

Figure 3

Clustering metabolites using k-means. (A) The clustering algorithm results from k-means method. (B) The hierarchical clustering heatmaps of increased metabolites with increasing skin oil sensitivity. (C) The hierarchical clustering heatmaps of decreased metabolites with increasing skin oil sensitivity. A, healthy skin group, B, mild oily sensitive skin group, C, moderate oily sensitive skin group, D, severe oily sensitive skin group. Each colored cell on the map corresponds to peak intensity, with samples shown in column and metabolites shown in row.

Figure 3

Clustering metabolites using k-means. (A) The clustering algorithm results from k-means method. (B) The hierarchical clustering heatmaps of increased metabolites with increasing skin oil sensitivity. (C) The hierarchical clustering heatmaps of decreased metabolites with increasing skin oil sensitivity. A, healthy skin group, B, mild oily sensitive skin group, C, moderate oily sensitive skin group, D, severe oily sensitive skin group. Each colored cell on the map corresponds to peak intensity, with samples shown in column and metabolites shown in row.

Figure 4

Intensity of two CERs, two SMs, a sphingosine, and a fatty acid with significant difference induced by impaired skin barrier. (A) Cer(d18:0/14:0), (B) Cer(t18:0/16:0), (C) SM(d18:0/16:1(9Z)), (D) SM(d18:1/16:0), (E) Phytosphingosine, (F) Palmitoleic acid. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 compared with healthy skin. A, healthy skin group, B, mild oily sensitive skin group, C, moderate oily sensitive skin group, D, severe oily sensitive skin group.