3D Skin models, an alterative to animal testing
Animal testing has prevailed in the world of cosmetics for decades, first brought to light due to the severe reactions and allergies caused by cosmetic products worn to the eyes and the face. This had an unfortunate effect, causing critical eye blindness in the majority of the women who used this product which contained the chemical paraphenylenediamine.
Animals have been used to test safety and hypoallergenicity of products and their ingredients. By being subjected to various testing methods such as dermal penetration, irritation tests along with toxicity testing. These affect the tested animals in a negative way, much like animal abuse. The use of Draize irritancy tests which expose the eyes or skin of animals to harsh chemicals has been one of the most vastly used tests after being developed in the year 1944. Proven as an unethical practice, alternatives to animal testing have been developed in the past few years, including 3D models of human skin. The negative effects of animal testing have also been brought to light through pop culture, the movie ‘Legally Blonde 2’.
Human skin equivalents have been successfully developed in the lab by using keratinocytes cultured on a dermal media.
Human skin equivalents have been successfully developed in the lab by using keratinocytes cultured on a dermal media. These also contain fibroblast cells, which are embedded in the matrix and basically mirror the dermis. These modes are exposed to air, which helps induce cell differentiation and growth, generally taking up to 14 days.
These three-dimensional skin equivalents are developed to resemble the architecture of human skin tissue.
These three-dimensional skin equivalents are developed to resemble the architecture of human skin tissue, and they offer a much better testing platform than two-dimensional culture. They have become an essential tool in cosmetic research and can be used to test efficacy and toxicity of new formulations. How a new face wash will affect the skin i.e. cause dryness, increase moisture or how a new shampoo formulation will affect hair roots or skin irritancy. These sort of factors are now being tested on 3D skin models rather than animal models. One more advantage is that animals at the end of the day are animals. They have genetic variations that humans do not. There is still a question mark about how if a product affects the animal skin in a way, will it react more adversely with human skin or in a different way.
These sorts of questions can be answered through the use of 3D skin models.
These three-dimensional skin equivalents are developed to resemble the architecture of human skin tissue, and they offer a much better testing platform than two-dimensional culture. They have become an essential tool in cosmetic research and can be used to test efficacy and toxicity of new formulations. How a new face wash will affect the skin i.e. cause dryness, increase moisture or how a new shampoo formulation will affect hair roots or skin irritancy. These sort of factors are now being tested on 3D skin models rather than animal models. One more advantage is that animals at the end of the day are animals. They have genetic variations that humans do not. There is still a question mark about how if a product affects the animal skin in a way, will it react more adversely with human skin or in a different way.
These sorts of questions can be answered through the use of 3D skin models. In a 3D tissue like skin model, cosmetics are not absorbed homogeneously in all areas and not every cell interacts with them, and this is a response similar to in vivo of humans as well. Along with the cosmetic industry, these models have also shown to play a great role in medical research, as they can act as mock models to observe how a drug will act in the body or interact with it.