The migration of keratinocytes in wound healing requires coordinated activities of the motility machinery of a cell, the cytoskeleton, and matrix adhesions. In this study, we assessed the role of alpha actinin-1 (ACTN1), one of the two alpha actinin isoforms expressed in keratinocytes, in skin cell migration via a small hairpin RNA-mediated knockdown approach. Keratinocytes deficient in ACTN1 e...

BACKGROUND Extensive full-thickness burns require replacement of both epidermis and dermis. In designing skin replacements, the goal has been to re-create this model and make a product which has both essential components. METHODS In the present study, we developed procedures for establishing confluent, stratified layers of cultured human keratinocytes on the surface of modified collagen-chito...

Re-epithelialization of skin wounds depends upon the migration of keratinocytes from the cut margins of the wound and is enhanced when human keratinocytes are covered with occlusive dressings that induce hypoxia. In this study, two independent migration assays were used to compare cellular motility on connective tissue components under normoxic or hypoxic conditions. Human keratinocytes apposed...

Because engineered tissues are designed for clinical applications in humans, a major problem is the contamination of cocultures and tissues by allogenic molecules used to grow stem cells in vitro. The protocols that are commonly applied to generate epidermal equivalents in vitro require the use of irradiated murine fibroblasts as a feeder layer for keratinocytes. In this study, we report a simp...

The laminin-binding integrin α3β1 is highly expressed in epidermal keratinocytes, where it regulates both cell-autonomous and paracrine functions that promote wound healing and skin tumorigenesis. However, the roles for α3β1 in regulating gene expression programs that control the behaviors of immortalized or transformed keratinocytes remain underexplored. In the current study, we used a microar...

OBJECTIVES Experimental models are of importance to study the pathogenesis of middle ear cholesteatoma, however, they were not established until now. We aimed to develop in vitro model of middle ear cholesteatoma using primary keratinocytes and fibroblasts isolated from cholesteatoma tissue. HaCaT cell line was used as a "skin equivalent" and to compare the grade of homogeneity between choleste...

In the epidermis, one of the earliest characterized events in keratinocyte differentiation is the coordinate induction of a pair of keratins specifically expressed in suprabasal cells, keratin 1 (K1) and keratin 10 (K10). Both in vivo and in vitro, extracellular calcium is necessary for several biochemical and structural changes during keratinocyte differentiation. However, it has been unclear ...

The pleiotropic growth factor TGFbeta plays an important role in regulating responses to skin injury. TGFbeta targets many different cell types and is involved in all aspects of wound healing entailing inflammation, re-epithelialization, matrix formation and remodeling. To elucidate the role of TGFbeta signal transduction in keratinocytes during cutaneous wound healing, we have used transgenic ...

Following injury, keratinocytes switch gene expression programs from the one that promotes differentiation to the one that supports migration. A common feature of human wounds and ulcerations of any form is the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1; collagenase-1) by leading-edge basal keratinocytes migrating across the dermal or provisional matrix. Induction of MMP-1 occurs by signal...

The matrix metalloproteinase stromelysin-2 is expressed in keratinocytes of the epithelial tongue of skin wounds, suggesting a role in keratinocyte migration. Here, we show that stromelysin-2 enhances migration of cultured keratinocytes. To gain insight into the in vivo activities of stromelysin-2 in epithelial repair, we generated transgenic mice expressing a constitutively active stromelysin-...