A New Hair Follicle-Derived Human Epidermal Model for the Evaluation of Sunscreen Genoprotection
June 2015
in “
Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology
”
TLDR The new lab-grown skin model is good for testing sunscreen's protection against DNA damage from UV light.
The document describes the development of an in vitro reconstituted human epidermis (RHE) model derived from hair follicles for evaluating the genoprotective effects of sunscreens against UV-induced DNA damage. The study compared the UV-induced genotoxicity in the RHE model to that in ex vivo skin explants by measuring the formation of bipyrimidine photoproducts, their repair rate, and the induction of apoptosis. Both the RHE model and the skin explants showed very similar results. The study also assessed the DNA protection provided by an SPF50+ sunscreen formula, finding a high DNA protection factor of approximately 20 in the RHE model, which was similar to that in the skin explants. This suggests that the RHE model is a suitable and convenient surrogate for human skin in sunscreen genoprotection studies.