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 1998-1999

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

Craig Meyers, PhD
Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, Pennsylvania

Occupational skin disease, typically caused by chemical irritants, is the most frequently reported occupational disease, and the most common pathologic response resulting from skin contact with a chemical agent is contact dermatitis. Contact dermatitis is the most common dermatologic malady seen in industrialized societies, affecting up to 10% of the population. Irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) accounts for 80% and allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) accounts for the bulk of the remaining cases of dermatitis.

Contact dermatitis is simply an inflammation of the skin resulting from the interaction of a chemical with epithelial tissue. At present, literally tens of thousands of animals are used to determine if industrial, cosmetic, environmental, and therapeutic products induce contact dermatitis. There has been no universal move away from these animal models. Some of these animal models cannot be accurately extrapolated to humans; for example rabbit skin is more reactive to irritants than human skin.

The investigator's human skin culture system, with its ability to stratify and differentiate just like its in vivo couterpart, has the potential to replace the majority of animals used for dermatitis testing. Meyers and colleagues plan to test a human epithelial raft culture system as a mechanistically-based system for dermatitis toxicity, by first evaluating compounds well characterized in their capacity to induce ICD and ACD. Once data is obtained and toxicity indices are defined, the system can then be used to test compounds of unknown capabilities. The system also can be used to evaluate other forms of dermatitis such as uticaria, chloracne, photosensitization, etc. Mucosal and other epithelial tissues also can be used for testing potential therapeutics designed to block the pathological process of contact dermatitis.