Construction of bilayered tissue-engineered skin with human amniotic mesenchymal cells and human amniotic epithelial cells

Abstract

Human amniotic mesenchymal cells (hAMCs) and human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs) have attracted increasing attention in recent years as a possible reserve of stem cells that may be useful for clinical application in regenerative medicine. The object of this study was to establish a new model for reconstruction of bilayered tissue-engineered (TE) skin with hAMCs and hAECs (amniotic cells TE skin, AC-TE skin). We studied these two types of cells and confirmed that they possessed the properties of stem cells. Mesenchymal-epidermal interactions are responsible for organogenesis. On the basis of this mechanism, we modified the constructing methods of traditional TE skin (TE skin with human fibroblasts and keratinocytes) and then established a new bilayered TE skin-AC-TE skin. Histological and immunochemical methods were carried out to assess AC-TE skin. The results showed that AC-TE skin was similar in morphology to human skin which had stratified epidermis and underlying dermis. AC-TE skin expressed proliferative cells marker Ki67 and epithelial stem cells marker K19; moreover, the constructed AC-TE skin could successfully repair full thickness skin defects on athymic mice. Our findings suggest that AC-TE skin is a useful skin equivalent which has good application prospects in regenerative medicine.