MODELING OF WOUND-HEALING PROCESSES IN HUMAN SKIN USING TISSUE-CULTURE

To facilitate the investigation of the complex process that leads to h ealing of a human skin wound we developed standardized and repeatable in vitro models for both incisional and burn wounds. Wounds with a sta ndardized area and depth were created in normal human skin biopsies wh ich were then incubated in vitro. It was shown, by cultivation, that b oth dermal and epidermal cells maintained their viability during a 14- day in vitro incubation if exposed to at least 2% fetal calf serum. By incubating in 10% serum, the skin samples were stimulated to complete ly re-epithelialize the wounded area. Because a large number of standa rdized wounds can be obtained from each donor, the re-epithelializatio n process can be studied histologically and immunohistochemically at s everal adjacent time points. The ability to keep the cells in the woun d area viable without stimulating healing by incubating the wounds in suboptimal serum concentrations implies a way of studying the stimulat ory effects of different agents, such as growth factors, on the wound healing process. There were some marked discrepancies in the healing p rocess between the incisional and burn wounds which resemble the in vi vo situation, indicating that the in vitro models could be used to mor e closely study differences between healing in different types of woun ds. Our findings suggest that in vitro tissue culture can be of great value in attempting to better understand the complex process of wound healing in human skin. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.