Oral keratinocytes cultured on dermal matrices form a mucosa-like tissue.

Oral reconstructions for cleft palate repair are often complicated by a shortage of mucosal tissue. This shortage causes scar tissue formation leading to impaired growth of the dento-maxillary complex. The overall aim of our research is to develop a substitute. which limits the iatrogenic effects of cleft palate surgery. This study describes the culture and characterization of mucosal substitutes containing keratinocytes. Epidermal and oral keratinocytes from a beagle dog were cultured on several skin-derived and collagen-based substrates. Oral keratinocytes cultured on the skin-derived substrates closely resembled normal oral epithelium of the dog. A multi-layered epithelium was formed showing parakeratosis, expression of cytokeratin 16 and the formation of a basement membrane. Epidermal keratinocytes cultured on the skin-derived substrates formed an epithelium which was similar to dog epidermis. In contrast, keratinocytes cultured on the collagen-based substrates invaded the substrate without the formation of a multi-layered epithelium. In conclusion, this study shows that oral canine keratinocytes cultured on skin-derived substrates exhibit a tissue organization that resembles normal oral mucosa. This type of mucosal substitute will therefore be used in further studies for implantation on the palate of beagle dogs. These studies might eventually lead to an improvement of cleft palate surgery in humans.