来自波哈科学技术大学（Postech）和帕桑国立大学拥有3D印刷了一种体外人造皮肤模型，以观察糖尿病患者患有皮肤疾病。
根据研究人员的说法，尽管通过3D细胞打印技术在生产人造皮肤方面持续进展，但尚未报道显示出本地皮肤中存在病理过程的疾病模型。
As such, the research team embarked upon modelling a 3D diseased skin tissue with the physiological processes that cause and are associated with type 2 diabetes using a 3D cell printing technique. The researchers also demonstrated the feasibility of their new disease model for drug development by applying test drugs.
研究人员说：“通过3D细胞打印，我们现在可以在体外观察到皮肤疾病，而无需实际经历。”“我们预计这将是替代常规观察皮肤病的动物模型的一种方式。
“It is significant that its applicability as a disease model for new drug development has been proven.”
与糖尿病有关的皮肤问题
根据American Diabetes Association，皮肤健康问题通常是糖尿病的第一个可见迹象。2型糖尿病会使现有的皮肤问题恶化，并引起新问题，例如水泡，皮疹，真菌感染和瘙痒。
This reaction typically happens when the body either does not respond normally to insulin or cannot produce enough insulin to maintain a normal blood sugar level. Long-term diabetes complications with hyperglycemia (high blood glucose) tend to be associated with poor blood circulation, which can impair cellular function and make self-healing difficult.
根据研究人员的说法，与糖尿病相关的皮肤疾病仍然有效治疗不佳。In their paper, they outline that previous studies mainly focused on the development of diabetic animal models to investigate the skin’s response and develop medications for wound healing, however ethical concerns around using animals and the possibility of inaccuracies due to the genetic differences between animals and humans limit this approach.
As such, the research team, led by Professor Don-Woo Cho and Minjun Ahn of POSTECH and Professor Byoung Soo Kim of Pusan National University, turned to 3D printing to engineer a human skin model to offer more accurate predictions of the behaviour of human skin cells.
3D printing artificial skin
3D cell printing is already being deployed to engineer vascularized skin layers such as the hypodermis, dermis, and epidermis in research projects around the world.
For their study, the researchers used a droplet-based cell 3D printing technique to fabricate diabetic human skin fibroblasts, cells that make up fibrous connective tissue, and keratinocytes, the primary type of cell found in the epidermis.
然后，他们打印了一种患病的人皮肤模型，将这些结构嵌入主要皮肤层（表皮，真皮，皮下注射和血管）中，以产生表现出2型糖尿病特性的皮肤伤口。
研究小组假设，当正常的角质形成细胞与由糖尿病成纤维细胞制成的真皮层相互作用时，它们会分化为糖尿病表皮。
During their study, this hypothesis was proven when they observed slow wound-healing in the diabetic artificial skin model, a typical feature of diabetic skin. When a diabetic fat tissue layer containing blood vessels was added to the model, insulin resistance, adipocyte hypertrophy, pro-inflammatory response and vascular dysfunction, all of which are commonly observed in diabetes, were confirmed.
这些发现验证了研究团队的人造皮肤模型是一种可行的工具，可以观察和建模与2型糖尿病有关的皮肤疾病，以便进一步了解糖尿病患者中皮肤细胞的行为。
为了证明其工程糖尿病皮肤在皮肤病学研究和药物测试中的潜在应用，研究人员在三天的时间内将测试药物应用于模型的血管通道。然后，他们观察到表皮的功能可重复性以及人造皮肤的炎症反应减少。
展望未来，该团队预计他们的人造皮肤模型可以帮助取代动物观察和测试皮肤疾病的使用铺平道路，并最终为药物开发提供新的疾病模型。
有关该研究的更多信息可以在标题为：“使用3D细胞打印的患病人体皮肤的工程用于代表2型糖尿病的病理生理标志”published in the Biomaterials journal. The study is co-authored by B. Kim, M. Ahn, W. Cho, G. Gao, J. Jang, and D. Cho.
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特色图片显示how 3D cell printing was used during the study to fabricate the artificial diseased skin model. Image via POSTECH.
