Acellular dermal equivalent derived from fibroblast culture alone

Abstract

Conflict of interest: none declared. Previously, several types of dermal equivalents have been developed in vitro to mimic the dermis in vivo. To construct these models, various materials such as bovine collagen, glycosaminoglycan, human cadaver dermis, and synthetic polymers have been used.1–3 Recently, my group has developed a new dermal equivalent by culturing fibroblasts alone in special culture medium.4 In addition, we found that epidermal growth factor (EGF) and insulin play an important role in the formation of a dermal equivalent.5 In this study, I evaluated the usefulness of acellular dermal equivalent derived from fibroblast culture alone. This study was conducted according to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study protocol was approved by the Samsung Medical Center institutional review board, and written informed consent was obtained from the volunteers. Dermal fibroblasts were isolated from human foreskins and then cultured. Fourth‐passage dermal fibroblasts were seeded in culture dishes and cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium with 10% fetal bovine serum. After fibroblasts reached confluence, 5 ng/mL EGF (Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co., Seoul, Korea) and 5 μg/mL insulin (Sigma Chemical Co., St Louis, MO, USA) was added. After 3 weeks of postconfluent culture, a dermal equivalent was produced in the culture dish.