Abstract
Tissue engineering approaches have enabled the development of methodologies that allow long-term, in vivo studies in epidermal biology. This has been accomplished through in vivo transplantation of human epidermal cells fabricated as three-dimensional, skin-equivalents in vitro. The methodologies presented in this chapter describe how skin-equivalent (organotypic) cultures are transplanted to nude mice to generate human skin grafts that normalize their tissue architecture, basement membrane structure and barrier function shortly after grafting. By grafting skin equivalents as composite cultures featuring well-differentiated human epidermis and fibroblasts in collagen gel, transplants are “primed” for accelerated take of grafted tissues. The methods outlined can generate stable, human epidermis that mimics the in vivo tissue.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barrandon, Y., Li, V., and Green, H. (1998) New techniques for the grafting of cultured human epidermal cells onto athymic animals. J. Invest. Dermatol. 91, 315–318.
Kolodka, T M., Garlick, J. A., and Taichman, L. B. (1998) Evidence for keratinocyte stem cells in vitro: long term engraftment and persistence of transgene expression from retrovirus-transduced keratinocytes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 4356–4361.
Cooper, M. L., Andree, C, Hansbrough, J. F, Zapata-Sirvent, R. L., and Spielvogel, R. L. (1993) Direct comparison of a cultured composite skin substitute containing human keratinocytes and fibroblasts to an epidermal sheet graft containing human keratinocytes on athymic mice. J. Invest. Dermatol. 101, 811–819.
Carver, N., Navsaria, H. A., Fryer, P., Green, C. J., and Leigh, I. M. (1993) Restoration of basement membrane structure in pigs following keratinocyte autografting. Br. J. Plast. Surg. 46, 384–392.
Andriani, F, Margulis, A., Lin, N., Griffey, S., and Garlick, J. A. (2003) Analysis of microenvironmental factors contributing to basement membrane assembly and normalized epidermal phenotype. J. Invest. Dermatol. 120, 923–931.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Humana Press Inc.
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Greenberg, S., Margulis, A., Garlick, J.A. (2005). In Vivo Transplantation of Engineered Human Skin. In: Turksen, K. (eds) Epidermal Cells. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 289. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-830-7:425
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-830-7:425
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-267-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-830-4
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols