Cell Culture Inserts for Skin Tissue Culture

Artificially grown, animal-free skin models are an important tool for simulating the effects of different conditions on epidermal tissues. In order to effectively culture such models, researchers must successfully induce keratinocytes to differentiate into the various layers of epidermis, requiring direct exposure to air as well as culture media that is used to support cell growth and differentiation.

Relevant applications and testing protocols:

How does skin tissue culture work?

Highlights from the application note:

In the image below, the hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain shows the stratification of the epidermal skin model cultured using the Nunc Cell Culture Insert System.

Depiction of cell culture inserts hanging in carrier plate, showing three different hanging positions

Dimensions given represent the height of the growth surface of the cell culture insert from the interior bottom of the well. Dimensions in figure are rounded to the tenth of a millimeter.

Tissue sections photographed at 400X magnification

We took advantage of the versatility of the carrier plate and tested different insert hanging positions, and corresponding increases in media volume, for different media change intervals of every 2, 3 or 4 days. This figure shows H&E stains of stratified skin model tissue after 12 days of air-liquid interface culture with media changes at varying intervals in carrier plates that suspended inserts above the wells at three different hanging heights. The higher hanging position with longer intervals worked as effectively as the lower hanging position with shorter intervals, saving time and labor during the skin tissue establishment.