The Underlying Dermal Scaffold Affects Molecular Differentiation Markers in Three-Dimensional Human Epidermal Equivalents

We undertook a study to compare two commonly used dermal scaffolds for three-dimensional human epidermal equivalents (HEEs): contracted collagen (CC) and acellular dermis (ACD). Using the same population of primary keratinocytes grown at an air-liquid interface in each model, we demonstrated improved basal keratinocyte morphology and compartmentalization of basal and suprabasal keratin markers in the ACD model. Using whole-transcriptome sequencing, we found that proliferation markers were more highly expressed in the ACD model at day seven and this may be explained by increased expression of key transcription factors which govern epidermal self-renewal, DNMT1, TP63, and CEBPD.