Volume 13, Issue 12 pp. 2300-2311
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Impact of ultraviolet radiation on dermal and epidermal DNA damage in a human pigmented bilayered skin substitute

Benjamin Goyer

Benjamin Goyer

Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec, Université Laval and Centre de recherche en organogénèse expérimentale de l'Université Laval/LOEX, Québec, QC, Canada

Département de chirurgie, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

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Ulysse Pereira

Ulysse Pereira

Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec, Université Laval and Centre de recherche en organogénèse expérimentale de l'Université Laval/LOEX, Québec, QC, Canada

Département de chirurgie, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

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Brice Magne

Brice Magne

Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec, Université Laval and Centre de recherche en organogénèse expérimentale de l'Université Laval/LOEX, Québec, QC, Canada

Département de chirurgie, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

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Danielle Larouche

Danielle Larouche

Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec, Université Laval and Centre de recherche en organogénèse expérimentale de l'Université Laval/LOEX, Québec, QC, Canada

Département de chirurgie, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

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Sélia Kearns-Turcotte

Sélia Kearns-Turcotte

Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec, Université Laval and Centre de recherche en organogénèse expérimentale de l'Université Laval/LOEX, Québec, QC, Canada

Département de chirurgie, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

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Patrick J. Rochette

Patrick J. Rochette

Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec, Université Laval and Centre de recherche en organogénèse expérimentale de l'Université Laval/LOEX, Québec, QC, Canada

Département d'ophtalmologie et d'oto-rhino-laryngologie – chirurgie cervico-faciale, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

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Ludovic Martin

Ludovic Martin

Service de Dermatologie, CHU d'Angers, et Institut MitoVasc (UMR INSERM 1083, UMR CNRS 6015), Université d'Angers, Angers, France

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Lucie Germain

Corresponding Author

Lucie Germain

Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec, Université Laval and Centre de recherche en organogénèse expérimentale de l'Université Laval/LOEX, Québec, QC, Canada

Département de chirurgie, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada

Correspondence

Prof Lucie Germain, Loex, Aile-R, CHU de Québec, Université Laval, 1401, 18e rue, Québec G1J 1Z4, QC, Canada.

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 10 September 2019
Citations: 18

Abstract

Our laboratory has developed a scaffold-free cell-based method of tissue engineering to produce bilayered tissue-engineered skin substitutes (TESs) from epidermal and dermal cells. However, TES pigmentation is absent or heterogeneous after grafting, due to a suboptimal number of melanocytes in culture. Our objectives were to produce TESs with a sufficient quantity of melanocytes from different pigmentation phototypes (light and dark) to achieve a homogeneous color and to evaluate whether the resulting pigmentation was photoprotective against ultraviolet radiation (UVR)-induced DNA damage in the dermis and the epidermis. TESs were cultured using different concentrations of melanocytes (100, 200, and 1,500 melanocytes/mm2), and pigmentation was evaluated in vitro and after grafting onto an athymic mouse excisional model. Dermal and epidermal DNA damage was next studied, exposing pigmented TESs to 13 and 32.5 J/cm2 UVR in vitro. We observed that melanocyte cell density increased with culture time until reaching a plateau corresponding to the cell distribution of native skin. Pigmentation of melanocyte-containing TESs was similar to donor skin, with visible melanin transfer from melanocytes to keratinocytes. The amount of melanin in TESs was inversely correlated to the UVR-induced formation of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer in dermal fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Our results indicate that the pigmentation conferred by the addition of melanocytes in TESs protects against UVR-induced DNA damage. Therefore, autologous pigmented TESs could ensure photoprotection after grafting.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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