Effects of collagen IV and laminin on the reconstruction of human oral mucosa

To investigate the effects of basement membrane proteins on the reconstruct ion of mucosa equivalent, oral mucosa substitute were cultured on (1) type I collagen gels, (2) type IV collagen-coated type I collagen gels, (3) lami nin-coated type I collagen gels, and (4) type I collagen gels containing bo th type IV collagen and laminin, H/E and PAS staining showed that the chara cteristics of the oral mucosa were preserved under all the experimental con ditions. However, the basal keratinocytes appeared cuboidal when the type I collagen gels were coated with type IV collagen plus laminin, The expressi on of the differentiation markers was similar, but weak staining of filaggr in, K13, and involucrin was observed with the type IV collagen plus laminin coating. Furthermore, electron microscopy revealed that the size of the ba sal keratinocytes was relatively small and uniform when both type IV collag en and laminin were used. These findings suggested that these two major bas ement membrane proteins are important in the process of differentiation in mucosal keratinocytes, (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons. Inc.