[The isolated perfused Bovine Udder Skin]

The isolated perfused Bovine Udder Skin (BUS) model from slaughter house material is an ex vivo skin model that can easily be maintained in culture at high vitality at least for 8 hours. The BUS model allows to study skin penetration and absorption as well as skin irritation almost under in vivo conditions. Moreover, the skin of the bovine udder is morphologically resembling human skin to a higher extent than the skin of rodents. Pharmacological and toxicological studies on raw materials and formulated products of interest to cosmetics and skin products industry reveal a high correlation to data obtained in humans. Therefore, the BUS model holds great promise since it allows to reduce the number of test animals in skin pharmacology and toxicology, since it provides information which cannot be obtained in other in vitro models and not even in human studies, e.g. pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism.