Figure 3.

Topical effects of Em on human epidermal cells.(a) Representative immunofluorescent pictures of skin sections after 24 h of topical application of Em stabilized using rhodamin B–coupled PLGA nanoparticles on human skin explants ex vivo. Bar = 50 μm. (b) Mean quantification of the fluorescent intensity of the rhodamine B staining in the layers of the human epidermis except the stratum corneum, as measured by ImageJ software (mean ± SD, n = 3). (c) Ratio of the gene expression of proinflammatory cytokines in isolated epidermal cells after 24 h of topical exposure of human skin with Em on the gene expression of epidermal cells isolated from respective control untreated explants and taken as 1. Quantification of human blood T-cell proliferation after 7 days of coculture with (d) epidermal cells freshly isolated from human skin and pretreated in culture with Em for 24 h before coculture with T cells or (e) with epidermal cells isolated after topical application of Em on human skin for 24 h. Results represent the mean ± SEM of 6 independent experiments (n = 6). Statistical comparison was assessed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. ∗P < .05, ∗∗P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗P < .001. Em, pickering emulsion; h, hour; PLGA, poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid.