In vitro reconstruction of full thickness human skin on a composite collagen material.

Rapid progress of in vitro techniques in the last years enabled the creation of organotypic skin cultures offering new possibilities in wound treatment. Rebuilding of graft is one of the key elements of successful outcome of the procedure. In search for the best scaffold for organotypic skin culture, the novel composite xenogenic collagen based material with unique properties has been created and used to reconstitute full thickness human skin in vitro. Based on our long established technology used for the production of collagen dressings for the treatment of burns, this novel, composite material offers excellent growth support of highly biodegradable spongy layer, combined with mechanical strength of collagen membrane. The modulation of collagen properties was accomplished by consecutive treatment with high temperature and gamma irradiation. The use of the substrate enabled to obtain organotypic culture that resembles full thickness skin with fibroblasts layer and well-developed multilayer epithelium. Our new material offers easy handling of obtained graft during surgery along with accelerated cell growth and controlled biodegradation of the culture support.