Fig. 6.

Functional analysis of serum-free 3D-engineered skin. a–d Serum-free 3D skin and e–h native skin sections were co-stained for CD29 (a marker for interfollicular stem and progenitor keratinocytes) and Vimentin (a fibroblast marker) on day-5 post keratinocyte seeding (n = 3) (scale bar 100 µm). EPI, epidermis; DERM, dermis; and white dotted line, dermal/epidermal junction. i–l The barrier function was detected by confocal microscopy showing reduced lucifer yellow (LY) penetration overtime on days 1, 3 and 5 post keratinocytes seeding, and it was compared to lack of LY penetration on native skin. Laminin-511 (LMN-511), in red, marks the basement membrane that divides dermal and epidermal compartments. LY is shown in green and the white arrows show the depth of cells from the surface that have taken up the LY dye. The figure is a representative of two independent experiments (scale bar 100 µm)