Scientists have made another leap by growing an epidermis in the lab. The research would now possibly help the scientist and pioneers in the medicine to test and research for new drugs and cosmetics. The discovery is almost identical to human skin and behaves in the same way.
Scientists from both King's College London and the San Francisco Veteran Affairs Medical Center made a success by growing the epidermis in the lab. The team of scientist faced many issues in accomplishing the research, and stated that the epidermis is highly complex as it protects the human body from the dehydration and the other harmful microbes. It acts as a shield between the body and the environment and stops the harmful bodies from entering into the skin. The lab generated epidermis was grown in a low humidity environment and was capable of stopping the water to come inside or the bodily fluids to drain out.
"Our new method can be used to grow much greater quantities of lab-grown human epidermal equivalents, and thus could be scaled up for commercial testing of drugs and cosmetics. We can use this model to study how the skin barrier develops normally, how the barrier is impaired in different diseases and how we can stimulate its repair and recovery", said Dr. Theodora Mauro, lead researcher, from King's College London.
He also included that, "Human epidermal equivalents representing different types of skin could also be grown, depending on the source of the stem cells used, and could thus be tailored to study a range of skin conditions and sensitivities in different populations"
The new method would end the use of animals in drug testing; animals, including the rabbits, monkeys, rats and dogs, go through intense physical and mental trauma. Although the lab tests, sometimes do not affirm about it results on the humans, the lab grown epidermis would help to have better and more effective results and would probably end the suffering of millions of animals.
Source : http://www.thewestsidestory.net/2014/04/27/lab-grown-epidermis-end-animal-testing/
