Contraction behavior of collagen gel and fibroblasts activity in dermal equivalent model

We developed a dermal equivalent (DE) which was engineered using human dermal fibroblasts and a matrix of collagen gel. The in vitro construction of the DE was accomplished by casting a porcine collagen type I solution plus concentrated medium with isolated and cultured fibroblasts. These constructs were attached to culture dishes or left floating in culture medium. Contraction of attached gels results in decreased gel thickness without a change in gel diameter, and contraction of floating gels results in decreased gel thickness and diameter. After contraction, there was no increase in cell number in floating gels, but cells in attached gels began to increase after about 4 days of the lag phase in cell growth curve. At this lag phase, addition of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) at a concentration of 0.1 mu g/ml promoted cell proliferation in the attached collagen gels, but no effect in floating gels. These results indicate that the method of contraction had an influence on the extracellular matrix (ECM) organization, and this influenced not only cell growth but also fibroblast responsiveness to FGF. This suggests that attached collagen gel is more suitable as a dermal equivalent than the floating gel. And the final contracted area of attached gel is much larger than that of the floating gel since floating gel is contracted in all directions but attached gel is contracted only vertically.