Use of skin equivalent technology in a wound healing model

Re-epithelialization is defined as the reconstitution of cells into an organized, stratified squamous epithelium that permanently covers a wound defect and restores function (1). Following wounding, keratinocytes are activated to undergo a series of phenotypic changes that have been well-characterized in vivo (2-4). However, in vitro studies of re-epithelialization have often been limited by their inability to simulate the in vivo tissue. Wound models using skin explants (5-8) or submerged keratinocyte cultures (9,10) demonstrate only partial differentiation and hyperproliferative growth. These systems have been useful for studying keratinoctye migration (11), but are limited in studying other aspects of re-epithelialization.