Reconstruction of the skin in three-dimensional collagen gel matrix culture.

The skin comprises three layers: epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. We report here on a skin, reconstructed in vitro, that is composed of all three layers. The top-most layer, epidermis, was exposed to air by a new method. The exposure induced an extensive proliferation, and differentiation, i.e. keratinization was eventually observed in the cultured epidermal cells. Skin thus cultured will be a useful graft of transplantation and provide an ideal model system in which to study diseases of the skin.