Abstract
It has been known that human epidermal keratinocytes can be propagated in vitro and transplanted onto immunodeficient mice. However, the regenerated human epidermis like tissue is rarely retained for a long period. These tissues also lack Langerhans cells.
We show here that co-transplantation of human dermal fibroblasts facilitates the long term maintenance of mature epidermal structures reorganized after xenotransplantation of cultured human keratinocytes. These reorganized human skins on immunodeficient mice are highly reproducible. Furthermore, when human bone marrow derived hematopoietic progenitor cells are co-transplanted with skin cells, repopulation of Langerhans cells in the reorganized epidermis are observed.
We consider that the reorganized human skins on immunodeficient mice are suitable to use as human skin model in vivo.
