CUTANEOUS WOUND HEALING IN THE EPIDERMFT™ FULL-THICKNESS IN VITRO HUMAN SKIN MODEL: ROLE OF SERUM GROWTH FACTORS.

• TR Number: 610
• Authors: Armento, A.J., Stolper, G., Cooney, C., Li, M., Klausner, M. and Hayden, P.J. Mattek Corporation, Ashland MA, USA

Timely and efficient epidermal wound healing is necessary for normal skin barrier function.  Cutaneous wound healing involves interactions between dermal fibroblasts and epidermal keratinocytes as well as cell-extracellular matrix interactions (1-4).  The current study describes wound healing experiments conducted in a full-thickness in vitro human skin model (EpiDerm-FT).  This model exhibits stratified epidermal components and a fully developed basement membrane and resembles in vivo skin in regard to morphology and barrier function.  Small epidermal-only wounds (3mm biopsy punch) or full-thickness wounds (cauterizer burns) were induced in the epithelial model and cultures were processed for histological evaluation at various time points to observe the healing process under various conditions.  Changes in gene expression during wound healing were also monitored by qPCR.