Fabrication of cultured epithelium using oral mucosal cells and its clinical applications

A cultured mucosal epithelium can be formed with living mucosal cells in vitro and used as a graft material. In this article, we described our culture methods for preparation of cultured mucosal epithelium as well as its biological characteristics compared with cultured skin epithelium. According to our results, cultured mucosal epithelium was formed earlier than cultured skin epithelium. Furthermore, the structure of cultured mucosal epithelium was maintained longer than that of cultured skin epithelium. Based on our findings from an in vitro study, we applied this cultured mucosal epithelium to the reconstruction of human skin and mucosal defects and succeeded in repairing the defects. We also present an overview of the problem relevant to the use of such methods.