The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing is an academic center affiliated with the Division of Toxicological Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Research Grants 1996-1997

R3-Organotypic (Raft) Epithelial Culture System for Contact Dermatitis Testing

Craig Meyers, PhD
Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, Pennsylvania

New information from in vivo and in vitro studies provides evidence that keratinocytes can play a pivotal role in allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) and irritant contact dermatitis (ICD). Myers and colleagues have developed an in vitro keratinocyte culture system to assess the ability of commercial and therapeutic products to induce ACD and ICD. They propose to evaluate the human epithelial raft culture system for its efficacy by defining the expression of immunoregulatory molecules in human epithelial raft culture tissues following treatment with a contact dermatitis-inducing chemical early in its development. Gene expression will be measured and a dose-response determined. Lack of a fully developed cornified layer will allow the toxicant more direct access to the underlying epithelial cell layers, providing a more sensitive measurement of the compound's contact dermatitis-inducing capacity