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AN ORGAN WHICH CAN BE GROWN |
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Construction of the different models. |
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THE NEED FOR SKIN MODELS
Safety, innocuity, and product efficacy - Understanding the skin better
 Safety, innocuity, and product efficacy
Research concerning skin reconstruction started in the 1980s and from the beginning L'Oral has been one of the main forces involved.
Since 1989, the L'Oral group has no longer been testing any finished product on animals and reconstructed epidermis technology is a key element in keeping to this commitment. These models predict certain toxic effects; they are essential for assessing the safety and innocuity of raw materials and finished products.
The efficacy of active ingredients, care formulations, sun filters, depigmenting and pigmenting agents, anti-oxidants etc. are all tested on reconstructed skin. The results obtained from these efficacy and tolerance tests form the prerequisite in vitro information needed before moving on to in vivo tests in human volunteers.
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Melanocytes observed under the microscope |
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Understanding the skin better
The skin reconstructed from human dermal or epidermal cells does not only allow screening of new molecules or the testing of finished products; it is fundamental for answering researchers' questions: How do the cells communicate with each other? How do cancers develop ? How does the sun cause so much damage? Or how does skin age?... To answer these questions, new models including each skin cell type are seeing the light of day. These models find a direct application for tissue engineering: restoring the skin of major burns victims and lower limb ulceration.
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