The world's first artificial skin from stem cells

British and American scientists have successfully created a piece of epidermis - the outermost layer of skin, from stem cells in the laboratory. This is also the first artificial leather in the world.

Scientists say they have created a 1cm-wide piece of cuticle from stem cells, which has features similar to the actual skin layer. This epidermis forms a 'barrier' that protects the body from the impact of the external environment. At the same time, there is also a water retention feature in the process of eliminating bacteria and toxins through the skin.

Picture 1 of The world's first artificial skin from stem cells
IPSs are similar in nature to stem cells, including the ability to grow into any type of tissue in the body - (Photo: Daily Mail)

Artificial skin is also used as a model to study sensitive skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis.

Dr Dusko llic, head of research at King's University, London, said: 'We can produce large amounts of epidermis similar to human skin in a laboratory, while creating a cuticle for each skin Different based on stem cells used. In the future, artificial leather samples can be used in drug and cosmetic tests.

According to a report in Stem Cell magazine, the inspiration for scientists to create artificial skin based on the versatility of the new stem cells (iPS), also known as touch-sensitive stem cells . New stem cells are created by altering the heredity in the tissues of the fibroblast, taken from adult connective tissue. IPSs are similar in nature to stem cells.

After that, scientists proceeded to build the '3D structure' for this cuticle. Experimental results show that there is no significant difference in the structure and function between artificial patches and the actual human skin.

Artificial skin can be used to study eczema in the dermatology industry and conditions for each type of sensitive skin, such as dry skin, peeling or atopic dermatitis. In addition, it can replace animals in drug and cosmetic experiments in the future.