EVALUATION OF EPIDERM FULL THICKNESS-300 (EFT-300) AS AN IN VITRO MODEL FOR SKIN IRRITATION.

This study by scientists at the Colleges of Pharmacy at Florida A&M University and Auburn University, and at MatTek Corp. demonstrated that MatTek’s EpiDerm-FT full thickness human skin tissue equivalent is an excellent alternative to the use of animals for skin irritation research, in part because it contains a dermal as well as an epidermal component making its reaction to potential skin irritants more in vivo-like. INTRODUCTION: Epiderm Full Thickness 300 (EFT-300) culture consists of normal, human-derived epidermal keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts that have been cultured to form a multi-layered, highly differentiated model of the human epidermis and dermis. EFT-300 provides a useful in vitro means to assess dermal irritancy and toxicity. The dermal component of the EFT-300 culture gives EFT a much closer resemblance to normal human skin. Dermal exposure of irritant chemicals is well known to cause skin irritation, sensitization, inflammation and expression of cytokines in the skin. The objective of this study was to evaluate the suitability of EFT-300 cultures as a model for the evaluation of skin irritation. CONCLUSION: There were no significant histological changes in 2.5ìl of the test chemical concentration treatments with Nonane, Decane and Dodecane. The extent of skin irritation was determined by the amount of cytokines released from the skin cultures. It was found that as the chain length increased from C9 to C12, cytokines, IL-1 alpha, IL-6 and IL-8, were released in significant amounts. In vivo studies have shown that as the chain length increased from C9 to C12, trans epidermal water loss was higher. Moisture content of rat skin reduced as the chain length increased from C9 to C12. As the chain length and duration of time increased, erythema also increased. There is a correlation between in vitro and in vivo studies. The findings clearly indicated that EFT-300 can be used as an alternative to use of animals in (skin irritation) research.

Aliphatic hydrocarbons, Cytokine release, EFT-300, EpiDerm Full Thickness-300 (EFT-300), EpiDerm-FT, EpiDermFT, Erythema scores, Histological studies, IL-1a, IL-6, IL-8, MTT, MTT assay, Male hairless rats, Skin irritancy, Skin irritation

Decane, Dodecane, Nonane