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An ex vivo human skin model for studying skin barrier repair
Author(s) -
Danso Mogbekeloluwa O.,
Berkers Tineke,
Mieremet Arnout,
Hausil Farzia,
Bouwstra Joke A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
experimental dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.108
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1600-0625
pISSN - 0906-6705
DOI - 10.1111/exd.12579
Subject(s) - ex vivo , explant culture , involucrin , human skin , stratum corneum , barrier function , in vivo , in vitro , microbiology and biotechnology , artificial skin , chemistry , keratinocyte , biology , biophysics , biochemistry , anatomy , genetics
In the studies described in this study, we introduce a novel ex vivo human skin barrier repair model. To develop this, we removed the upper layer of the skin, the stratum corneum ( SC ) by a reproducible cyanoacrylate stripping technique. After stripping the explants, they were cultured in vitro to allow the regeneration of the SC . We selected two culture temperatures 32°C and 37°C and a period of either 4 or 8 days. After 8 days of culture, the explant generated SC at a similar thickness compared to native human SC . At 37°C, the early and late epidermal differentiation programmes were executed comparably to native human skin with the exception of the barrier protein involucrin. At 32°C, early differentiation was delayed, but the terminal differentiation proteins were expressed as in stripped explants cultured at 37°C. Regarding the barrier properties, the SC lateral lipid organization was mainly hexagonal in the regenerated SC , whereas the lipids in native human SC adopt a more dense orthorhombic organization. In addition, the ceramide levels were higher in the cultured explants at 32°C and 37°C than in native human SC . In conclusion, we selected the stripped ex vivo skin model cultured at 37°C as a candidate model to study skin barrier repair because epidermal and SC characteristics mimic more closely the native human skin than the ex vivo skin model cultured at 32°C. Potentially, this model can be used for testing formulations for skin barrier repair.