[Large-scale culture of human keratinocytes]

We propose a modification of the conventional keratinocyte subculture method, showing a significant improvement in the colony growth capacity of subcultured keratinocytes. This method utilized mouse 3T3 fibroblasts and MCDB153 medium, and it has been shown that they could improve the colony growth of human keratinocytes. Compare with the conventional procedure, this culture method was shorter in time, and resulted in a higher colony growth capacity of cells, reaching confluence 3 days earlier. In the treatment of extensively burned patients using cultured epidermal sheets, the time required for their production remains the main problem. Thus, the significantly reduced time to obtain confluent keratinocyte sheets with our method is very important for the treatment of large burn wounds.