Tissue engineered artificial skin composed of dermis and epidermis

We made an artificial skin comprised of a stratified layer of keratinocytes and a dermal matrix with a type I collagen containing fibroblasts. In this work, we showed keratinocyte behavior under primary culture, gel contracti ons varying with concentration of collagen solution, and cell growth plots in the collagen gel. The optimum behavior of dermal equivalent could be obt ained using 3.0 mg/ml of the gel. Cultured artificial skins were successful ly collagen solution and attached gel culture. The attached grafted onto ra ts. gel culture had a jumping effect of growth factor on cell growth at the lag phase. To develop the artificial skin, 1 x 10(5) cells/cm(2) of kerati nocytes were cultured on the dermal equivalent at air-liquid interface. Fin ally, to overcome the problem that artificial skin of collagen gel was torn easily during suturing of grafting, we prepared histocompatible collagen m esh and attached the mesh to the bottom of the gel. Cultured artificial ski ns were successfully grafted onto rats.