In recent years, there has been rapid progress in the development of novel technologies for cost-effective screening of chemicals, ingredients, drugs, and cosmetic formulations that strive to replace animal models and generate human-relevant data. Scientists are not only increasingly acknowledging the limitations of those “golden standards” for safety and efficacy testing that involve animals, they are also showing greater interest in ethical innovation.
Two-dimensional (2D) cultures have been traditionally used for the routine screening and discovery of active ingredients and therapeutics. In the last decades, three-dimensional (3D) cell culture approaches have gained significant attention because they can combine multiple cell types to more closely resemble the architecture and function of human organs. This enables a higher degree of insight.
However, there are still significant limitations associated with these 2D & 3D static culture techniques. One of those key challenges is the in vitro simulation of blood circulation: in static culture models, cells are not getting a steady flow of nutrients and oxygen as they would in the human body, nor are metabolic by-products removed. This makes it harder to capture the relevant complexity of the in vivo natural microenvironments and get reliable & representative data that further bridges the gap between initial candidates screening and human trials. With better human-relevant insights, there is no need to resort to animal models.
To overcome the above-mentioned challenges, we have developed a unique organ-on-a-chip platform that allows mimicking the function of the blood flow and engineering what we call a REVSkin™ - a 4D full-thickness skin model grown under dynamic, in vivo-like conditions.
These microtissues are based on living human cells, continuously nourished with nutrients from the dermal side (like blood vessels do in our body), while the epidermal side is exposed to the external environment. As a result, our sophisticated system can produce the currently most realistic solution on the market by recreating an in vivo-like micro-environment without involving animals.
“Traditional technology is static: it is like black-and-white photography. Because of the mimicking of the blood flow, REVIVO’s technology is dynamic: it is like taking a video in colors!” explains Dr. Massimo Alberti, the CEO and Founder of Revivo Biosystems. “We can recreate physiological and cell-level processes outside the body, such as delivering nutrients and removing cell metabolites. Therefore our tech adds more depth to the research our clients do.”
Static 3D cultures vs Our organ-on-a-chip approach
This sophisticated system is amenable to the complete automation of testing protocols, which saves you hours of work and money. So, no more long manual sampling nights with our automated fraction collector!
Our dynamic flow system and culturing technique, improves epithelial morphology and differentiation of full-thickness human skin and oral mucosa equivalents, leading to the enhanced synthesis of basement membrane proteins and improved barrier function.
5. We choose serum-free media to grow our skin
Most reconstructed full-thickness skin models rely on animal collagen for their dermal matrix. A very problematic limitation of collagen-based matrices is that they contract during the culturing process as a result of fibroblast metabolism. This causes dis-homogeneous keratinocyte seeding and ultimately a reconstructed skin model that is not fully keratinized and does not have a reliable exposure area for topical applications. Such issues can make permeation and efficacy testing impossible without the risk of having unreliable results.