A team of scientists from USP has developed an artificial skin that can help in testing cosmetics and medicines. The findings were published in the scientific journal Bioprinting. To produce this technology, the researchers relied on bioengineering, and the idea is that this skin could replace the controversial use of animals.
The scientists explain that it is a human tissue, similar to natural skin, which generated satisfactory results in tests of safety and efficacy of bioactive compounds. The group concentrated on verifying the tissue morphology, which must contain, in the epidermis, the entire structure stratified into four layers: basal, spinous, granular and corneal.
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That is: in practice, in vitro reconstructed skin must have the same functions as ours, which has a selective barrier against the external environment, protecting against chemical stressors, such as pollution, applied topical products, or even physical ones, such as solar radiation.
The group also conducted experiments to verify its ability to withstand the permeation of irritating detergents. The last validation test was topically applying irritating chemicals, such as acids, or non-irritants, such as saline solutions.
In that study, the results indicated that bioprinted skins can be used for in vitro irritation tests. However, the researchers point out that caution must be exercised in the use of bioprinters, because depending on the chosen system, there may be alterations in the cellular response in these tests and indicate greater inflammation, for example.
The researchers’ next steps are to create more complex models, with the three layers (epidermis, dermis and hypodermis) and representative cells of human skin, bringing the model closer to reality.
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