IN-VIVO HYDRATION PROFILE IN SKIN LAYERS BY HIGH-RESOLUTION MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING

In recent years magnetic resonance imaging has become a very efficient tool for in vivo quantification of water content and water behavior i n living tissues. We have applied this technique to the study of the i n vivo hydration profile in heel skin layers by quantification of the mobile water proton density versus depth. Effects of a bath, a moistur izer and repeated soaping are present. Hydration profiles by magnetic resonance imaging delineate two different structures in stratum corneu m: an outer layer where hydration can be modified by external mechanis ms and an inner layer where hydration is not altered. The main interes t of this method lies in the fact that the physical signal is exactly located, as spatial encoding is the basis of in vivo imaging. This met hod differs from other noninvasive methods which acquire an averaged s ignal from a nondelimited volume of interest.