Laboratory skin to replace animal testing
A laboratory-grown skin model that represents all three skin layers is set to replace animal testing. This is the vision of a start-up.
So-called skin models could replace or at least reduce animal testing in the future.
(Image: Fraunhofer ISC)
Laboratory-grown human skin could replace numerous animal experiments in medical and pharmaceutical research. This is the goal of a Fraunhofer start-up. This would also eliminate the detour via experiments with animals. Instead, the results can be transferred directly to humans, according to a statement from the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC.
The researchers grow the so-called skin model using human stem cells in an in-vitro process. Organoids, i.e. mini-organs, are reproduced from these cells. The Fraunhofer Translational Center for Regenerative Therapies TLZ-RT at the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC has focused in particular on the skin. "With these cell aggregates grown in the laboratory, physiological processes can be reproduced and researched under controlled conditions," says the institute. This is one way of replacing or at least reducing animal testing.
Direct reaction to active substances recognizable
The start-up project TigerShark Science has developed a skin model that is particularly realistic: it represents almost all the structures of human skin. The model replicates the three skin layers epidermis, dermis and hypodermis with fat cells. "They are suitable for testing drugs and their side effects or for researching hair growth, for example," the press release states. These organoids combine different cell types. Similar to human skin, the latter has sebaceous glands and hair.
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Such a skin model is helpful, for example, to find out how the cells react to a certain active ingredient, how they communicate with each other or whether irritations occur. "The organoids are automatically developed in large quantities in the bioreactor and then applied to nanofibers using a special process", the institute continues. "This results in a so-called air-medium boundary cultivation, in which the top layer of skin, the epidermis, has contact with the air – in contrast to cultivation in a petri dish."
The tests with such a skin model are faster and more precise than animal experiments. In addition, the results can be better transferred to humans. "The skin model is currently being further developed and will be supplemented in the future by models with immune cells and blood vessels, as well as models with tumor cells, for example to simulate and research diseases such as skin cancer," says the research team.
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