CULTURE AND DRUG BIOTRANSFORMATION CAPACITY OF ADULT HUMAN KERATINOCYTES FROM POSTMORTEM SKIN

The aim of this study was to analyse viability, growth, differentiatio n and drug metabolic capacity of cultured human keratinocytes obtained from post-mortem skin, Epidermal cells were prepared from 1-day post- mortem paired sun-exposed (outer) and sun-protected (inner) sites of t he upper arm, of donors aged 47-80 years, The percentage of viable cel ls obtained from post-mortem skin was only slightly lower than that us ually obtained for keratinocytes isolated from fresh skin, and no alte rations of epidermal markers were noted, keratinocytes isolated post-m ortem from non-exposed skin had a higher viability (78 versus 73%), an d a more active proliferation, while their attachment rate, keratin co mposition, lipid synthesis capacity and transglutaminase activity leve ls were similar to those of epidermal cells obtained from the sun-expo sed skin, keratinocytes isolated from postmortem skin expressed variou s phase I and II activities at levels similar to those obtained with k eratinocytes isolated from fresh skin while drug metabolizing enzyme a ctivities were consistently higher in sun-exposed compared to sun-prot ected cells. The results support the conclusion that skin collected po st-mortem can represent an alternative source of viable and functional epidermal cells, and that the functional changes that occur in adult keratinocytes habitually exposed to the sun, affect much more strongly the drug metabolism capacity than the expression of differentiation m arkers.