Swine pericardium as dermal substrate for human keratinocyte culture.
BACKGROUND
Synthetic skin analogues or living allogeneic or autologous cells are used as dressings for the care of skin wounds, as well as temporary or permanent substitutes for damaged epithelia.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate if keratinocyte growth on a swine pericardium substrate mimics the natural epithelial layers compared with cultures on allogeneic dermis, which is accepted as having appropriate physical and chemical properties for growth and differentiation.


METHODS
Keratinocytes were cultured on a swine pericardium substrate and allogeneic dermis, either submerged or at the air-liquid interface. At 7, 14 and 21 days postseeding the cultures were evaluated by light microscopy after both haematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
Cell-substrate interactions led to growth, stratification and differentiation of cells, with the definition of epithelial layers. The submerged system showed a continuous growth rise on both composites, but this was more prominent with the swine pericardium substrate. An increase in the number of layers at the air-liquid interface with the dermis composites, in contrast to the submerged cultures, occurred only from days 7 to 14. The pattern of keratinocyte growth on swine pericardium substrate was much better in the submerged than in the air-liquid interface cultures.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that swine pericardium is a better substrate than allogeneic dermis for keratinocyte cultures in submerged but not in air-liquid interface cultures. Swine pericardium as a substrate opens one more possibility for skin restoration after trauma or burns.
Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Av. Professor Alfredo Balena, 190 Sala 295, Belo Horizonte/MG 30130-100, Brazil.
R
R
Oliveira-Prado
I R
IR
Caldas
G M V
GM
Pereira
M V
MV
Andrade
J R
JR
Cunha-Melo
D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D048708:Cell Growth Processes; D020405:Dermis / Q000166:cytology*; D005612:Freeze Drying; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D010496:Pericardium / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013552:Swine; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous; D014945:Wound Healing