776 Culturing ex vivo skin explants under tension increases viability and tissue integrity

Abstract

In vivo skin is under tension on the body. However, the gold standard of skin research model systems are ex vivo skin explants, prepared from “relaxed” tissue obtained from patients undergoing abdominoplasty surgeries. This tissue maintains almost all properties of native skin, but conventional culturing methods do not maintain in vivo tension. In our approach, skin explants are cultured at the air-liquid interface stretched in all directions, thus providing constant defined tension throughout the culture period.