title: Mouse epidermal keratinocytes in three-dimensional organotypic coculture with dermal fibroblasts form a stratified sheet resembling skin.
abstract: We describe an organotypic model of mouse skin consisting of a stratified sheet of epidermal keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts within a contracted collagen gel. The model was designed to maintain the polarity of stratified keratinocytes and permit their long-term culture at an air-liquid interface. After air exposure, the thickness of the keratinocyte sheet transiently increased and then decreased to two cell layers at 2 weeks. The two-cell-layer structure is similar to that of the adult mouse epidermis. Cytokeratin 5 was localized in the lowest cell layer in the epithelial sheet, but cytokeratin 1 and loricrin were localized in the outer cell layers, resembling mouse skin. The expressions of interleukin 1alpha and 1beta in the keratinocytes and of keratinocyte growth factor 1 and 2 in the fibroblasts correlated with keratinocyte stratification. The mouse organotypic coculture is useful in studying epithelial cell-mesenchymal cell interactions in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuzo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ikuta
authors.forename: Nobufumi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sekino
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Yuriko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics; D004247:DNA / Q000096:biosynthesis; D005347:Fibroblasts; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D004247:DNA