EVALUATION OF RECONSTRUCTED HUMAN EPIDERMIS KITS FOR THE IN VITRO ASSESSMENT OF COSMETIC SAFETY.

• TR Number: 269
• Keywords: Cosmetic safety, Cutaneous irritancy, Cutaneous irritation, Cutaneous metabolism, Cutaneous toxicity, Dermal irritancy, Dermal irritation, EpiDerm, EpiSkin, European project, IL-1a, Metabolism, Reconstituted epidermis, Skin absorption, Skin irritancy, Skin irritation, SkinEthic

Reconstructed human epidermis is one of the most promising tools for in vitro evaluation of cosmetics. In recent years, their availability as kits offered to users practical models for the assessment of safety and efficacy of ingredients and finished products. However, the evaluation of their reproducibility, reliability and the relevance of the data obtained with regard to cutaneous response of cosmetics is a crucial requirement for their routine use. Three years ago, a European project was initiated with the aim to pre-validate industrial models (EpiDem™/ Mattek Inc. USA; Episkin®/ SNC France and SkinEthic, France) for three key applications in cosmetology/dermatology: skin absorption, cutaneous metabolism and in vitro assessment of skin irritancy. Some applications have been tested on ‘in house’ models (e.g. a model developed by Cosmital and the DED model). The results of this multi-laboratory study are presented in this paper.