Tunable 3D Agarose-Well to enhance structural integrity of a reconstructed human skin equivalent

Abstract

The successful reconstruction of the skin equivalents that closely resemble normal human skin tissue greatly relies on maintaining the structural integrity throughout the air-liquid culture. Therefore, this study presents a novel strategy to prepare 3D Agarose-Well which enhances structural integrity of reconstructed skin equivalents. Hydrogel forming of agarose with agarose-g-C18, which synthesized a hydrophobically modified agarose, generated the 3D Agarose-Wells that possess various hydrophilic/hydrophobic balances. As a result, the agarose-fibrils in the well, assembled with penetrated collagen in dermis layer were proved to enhance the structural integrity and further regulate the mechanical strength from 6.8 kPa to 20.9 kPa. Overall, this new strategy to prepare the skin equivalents in the 3D Agarose-Well would be actively used in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and cosmetics, etc. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.