Profiling human skin in vivo

Clinical diagnostics represents one of the most important applications of NMR imaging. However, the spatial resolution achieved in medical systems is of the order of one millimeter, so that studies of skin are difficult. Taking advantage of the high spatial resolution achieved with the profile-MOUSE the skin structure can be studied in vivo. Skin consists of several layers, the two most important are being a superficial epithelial layer, the epidermis (E), and a deep connective tissue layer, the dermis. By choosing the right contrast the technique was used to resolve the skin structure in different body regions. The figure shows the profiles measured on the palm of the hand and on the lower-arm region. As expected the profile measured in the palm shows a thicker epidermis than the one measured on the lower arm. Apart from this difference both profiles present the same trend for the following layers. Both reach a maximum in the amplitude with comparable values is the region associated with the dermis papilare (DP), and both decrease in the region corresponding to the dermis reticulare (DR). The last part of the profiles shows increasing values as a consequence of smaller diffusivity expected in the adipose or subcutis (SC) tissue layer. The assignment of the different strata was made based on literature data of histological methods.

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