Construction of pigmented skin equivalent and its application to the study of congenital disorders of pigmentation*

Author： Okazaki Mutsumi Suzuki Yasutoshi Yoshimura Kotaro Harii Kiyonori

ISSN： 0284-4311

Source： Scandinavian Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Hand Surgery, Vol.39, Iss.6, 2005-12, pp. : 339-343

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

We have constructed a pigmented skin equivalent and used it to study the hyperpigmentation seen in café-au-lait macules to elucidate whether the pigmented skin equivalent could be used as a model of congenital hyperpigmentary disorders. When we used fibroblasts derived from café-au-lait macules of neurofibromatosis type 1, the amount of pigment was significantly greater than in models using cells derived from normal skin. Quantities of pigment were not seen when keratinocytes derived from solitary café-au-lait macules were used, a possible reason being that keratinocytes on the skin equivalent are in a proliferating condition and are not well-differentiated enough to act on other cells. Our results suggested that our pigmented skin equivalent is useful for the study of congenital hyperpigmentary disorders, although insufficient differentiation of keratinocytes might be a disadvantage.