Use of Human Skin Reconstructs Containing Melanocytes as a Model to Evaluate the Effect of Pigment Modifiers / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Recently human skin reconstructs composed of keratinocytes and melanocytes have been developed. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether human skin reconstructs containing melanocytes could be useful to test the efficacy of drugs that alter pigmentation. METHODS:Human skin reconstructs were made by culturing human keratinocytes and melanocytes on the top of de-epidermized dermis. Reagents that alter melanogenesis such as isobutyl methylxanthine, 1-oleoyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycerol, kojic acid were treated in the culture medium after 7 days of culture at the air-liquid interface. Macroscopic, histological, histochemical and immunohistochemical studies were performed. RESULTS: The effect of pigment modifiers was demonstrated in human skin reconstructs as expected from in vivo data on skin color, numbers of melanocytes and melanin content. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that this model is very useful to assess the efficacy of drugs that alter pigmentation.