AUTOMATED PRODUCTION OF CULTURED EPIDERMAL AUTOGRAFTS AND SUB-CONFLUENT EPIDERMAL AUTOGRAFTS IN A COMPUTER-CONTROLLED BIOREACTOR

The objective of this work was to engineer an automated system for the production of cultured epidermal autografts and sub-confluent culture d epidermal autografts. Human epidermal cells were grown directly on a transparent FEP film, which was held in place and surrounded by a pol ycarbonate growth chamber. The growth chambers were stacked to accommo date various surface area requirements. To monitor the development of the grafts, the upper-most growth chamber in the stack was periodicall y placed on a standard phase contrast microscope. The growth chambers were connected to a multi-channel peristaltic pump, which was controll ed automatically to manage fluid-handling operations. Sub-confluent gr aft production involved removing the epidermal-film composite from the growth chambers and cutting desired graft geometries. Producing cultu red epidermal autografts involved (1) removing the confluent epidermal -film composite from the growth chambers, (2) treating the composites with dispase, and (3) clipping the detached cultured epidermis to a sy nthetic support. Twelve to fifteen days were required to produce sub-c onfluent grafts (total surface area 3500-4500 cm(2) 50% confluent) and 18 to 24 d were required to produce standard cultured epidermal autog rafts (total surface area 3500-4500 cm2). The system reduces the tedio us manual labor associated with producing cultured epidermal autograft s. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.