Artificial skin has hair and sweat glands

Japanese scientists successfully cultivate skin tissue in the laboratory with all the characteristics from hair follicles to sweat glands, bringing the prospect of skin grafting to patients with severe burns.

According to the International Business Times, mouse skin transplants form connections with nerves and muscle fibers, which can become the key to making fully functional skin cells work. Research published on April 1 in Science Advances opens hope of successful skin transplants for burn patients or new skin replacement patients.

Artificial skin with hair follicles and sweat glands.(Photo: Takashi Tsuji / Riken).

The artificial skin sector has achieved many achievements in recent years when researchers created a number of different types of tissue. However, these tissues still lack two basic features: hair follicles and sweat glands , which are used to protect water and skin. This means that artificial skin was previously unable to fully function after transplanting into a living organism.

The team at the Riken, Kobe, Japan Biological Development Center, aims to create functional skin tissue, including all the basic ingredients for normal tissue functioning. They used stem cells taken from rat bites and added a protein to transform stem cells into embryonic cells. The cell is then transplanted into mice and gradually develops skin cell walls like a normal fetus.

Transplant skin undergoes normal hair growth.(Photo: Takashi Tsuji / Riken).

Over a period of development, they complete and become a skin tissue responsible for controlling the amount of hair follicles and sweat glands. Artificial skin cells can function as normal skin cells.

"With this new technology, we have successfully cultivated the skin that simulates the function of normal cells. We are getting closer to the dream of reproducing real organs in the laboratory for transplantation. We believe that tissue culture in this method can be used as an alternative to animal chemical testing, " said Dr. Takashi Tsuji, head of the research team.